NEW YORK (AP) — P.J. O’Rourke, the prolific author and satirist who re-fashioned the irreverence and “Gonzo” journalism of the 1960s counterculture into a distinctive brand of conservative and libertarian commentary, has died.
No cause of death has been released. However, USA TODAY reports that O'Rourke had been ill.
O’Rourke evolved from a long-haired student activist to a wavy-haired scourge of his old liberal ideals, with some of his takedowns appearing in a founding counterculture publication, Rolling Stone.
His career otherwise extended from the early years of National Lampoon to a brief stint on “60 Minutes” in which he represented the conservative take on “Point/Counterpoint” to frequent appearances on NPR’s game show “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!”
NPR host Peter Sagal paid tribute to O'Rourke on social media.
"Most well known people try to be nicer than they are in public than they are in private life," he said. "PJ was the only man I knew to be the opposite. He was a deeply kind and generous man who pretended to be a curmudgeon for public consumption.
O'Rourke was 74 years old.
