Frank McCourt Dies at 78

Frank McCourt, author of renowned memoir “Angela’s Ashes” and its sequels, has died of cancer at the age of 78, in a hospice in New York City.

Diagnosed with skin cancer in recent years, it was announced this past May that his condition had gone into remission, and that he was undergoing home chemotherapy. However, two weeks ago the Irish-American author was then diagnosed with meningitis, a serious ailment that is able to attack cancer patients with great intensity given their compromised immune systems.

McCourt was taken to a New York hospice soon after, and kept company at his bedside by his friends and family, some of which traveled from various points across the world just to be with him. He died this Sunday, those friends and family members still by his side.

For the last 13 years, Frank McCourt has spent his time touring the globe on reading tours as he continued to write, adding two sequels to his 1996 memoir, “Angela’s Ashes,” which has so far sold more than five million copies, and which has been translated into more than 20 different languages.

The breakthrough novel documented McCourt’s harrowing childhood and teenage years, describing the conditions that he and his family lived in when taking residence in Brooklyn, New York, and then the family’s decision to move to Limerick City, Ireland, after the death of newborn Margaret McCourt. Within a year of their move to Ireland, Frank’s younger twin brothers, Oliver and Eugene, both succumb to illness and die, and before Frank is even a teenager his father, who seldom found work with which to support his family and who spent any money he made in the bars anyway, abandons his family and moves alone to England, leaving his still-living children and wife in destitute.

Describing unlivable dwellings and horrifying sicknesses that plagued his family and all those around him, Frank’s memoir is a dark and poignant one, lit up by a light and happy moment only sparingly. It could be said that the novel ends on a lighter note regardless, documenting Frank’s dream to eventually save up enough money to return home to America, and ending with the start of his journey to do so at age nineteen.

“Angela’s Ashes” spawned two sequels; “‘Tis”, released in 1999 and taking up where the first novel left off, and “Teacher Man”, published in 2005 and telling of his experiences as a teacher in New York. He taught at various New York schools for over thirty years, starting from the age of 27 after he earned his degree at Brooklyn College, and retired only when “Angela’s Ashes” catapulted him into fame.

However, long before his first book brought him into the public eye, McCourt was already known in many literary and artist circles in New York City for his understandably hilarious “A Couple of Blagards”, a two-man stage play he conducted with brother Malachy, which depicted their lives and the experiences they lived through.

Malachy McCourt is also a published author, actor, politician, and a former WMCA radio host.

McCourt was forever known for his humor and sharp wit, even employing his odd sense of humor when describing the dreariest living conditions that he experienced throughout his life. And even in death, he stayed true to form.

"I don't want funeral services or memorials”, said McCourt just before he died. “Let them scatter my ashes over the Shannon and pollute the river."

Source.