[Deathwatch] William Safire, columnist, 79

[Deathwatch Central]

NY Times columnist William Safire dead at 79

NEW YORK (Reuters) – William Safire, the former speechwriter for
Richard Nixon who won a Pulitzer Prize for columns on politics and
language for The New York Times, died on Sunday, the newspaper said. He
was 79.

Safire died at a hospice in Rockville, Maryland, after suffering from
pancreatic cancer, spokeswoman Diane McNulty said.

Safire, known for his conservative voice on The Times' mostly liberal
opinion pages, received a Pulitzer for commentary in 1978. In 1979 he
began writing the newspaper's On Language column, in which he examined
the origins of words and phrases and their proper usage.

He served for a decade on the board that awards the Pulitzer, and
retired from his twice-weekly political column in 2005.

Safire's last column for the newspaper appeared just two weeks ago.

Before joining The Times in 1973, Safire worked in politically oriented
public relations and joined the Nixon White House speechwriting team in
1968.

He was credited with coining the phrases "nattering nabobs of
negativism" and "hysterical hypochondriacs of history," used by
then-Vice President Spiro Agnew to describe the U.S. media.

Safire was married and had two children.

He wrote several novels including the bestseller "Full Disclosure," as
well as several nonfiction books on politics and language.

A New York City native, he was popular even with readers who took issue
with his conservative political views in part because he
enthusiastically engaged them and solicited contributions and input on
the origins and foibles of modern language.

His last On Language column appeared two weeks ago. Entitled "Bending
the curve," it explored the history and popularity of that phrase.

He ended the piece with a quote from a reader who had written to thank
him for a recent column's citation, which the reader said had refreshed
"the halcyon days of my youth."

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary