Jonathan Kwitny, a writer best known as the biographer of Pope John Paul II for his book "Man of the Century," has died of cancer after a brief illness, a friend said Friday. He was 57.
Kwitny died Thursday at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said Tony Scaduto, a friend. Scaduto said Kwitny had recently taken a job with Gannett to run the media company's Trenton, N.J., bureau when he became ill.Kwitny published his acclaimed 750-page biography, "Man of the Century: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II," in 1997.
Other books included "Endless Enemies," about U.S. foreign policy, and "The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money and the CIA."
Kwitny, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, was profiled in the documentary "Fear and Favor in the Newsroom" and had his own show, "The Kwitny Report," which aired on PBS.
He also served as a consultant on the pope for NBC News.
He is survived by his wife, the poet Wendy Wood; his mother; and four children.