From Variety:
Frank McCourt, the beloved raconteur and former public school teacher who enjoyed post-retirement fame as the author of “Angela’s Ashes, ” the Pulitzer Prize-winning tale about his impoverished Irish childhood, died Sunday of cancer.McCourt, who was 78, had been gravely ill with meningitis and recently was treated for melanoma, the cause of his death, said his publisher, Scribner. He died at a Manhattan hospice, his brother Malachy McCourt said
In “Angela’s Ashes”, his memoir of growing up in extreme poverty in Limerick, Ireland, I thought McCourt captured the voice of his younger self perfectly–telling the story in the present tense from the point of view of an innocent gave it power. That McCourt grew up to be a surly young man is probably the reason I didn’t enjoy his follow-up, “‘Tis”, as much.
Still, McCourt led an interesting life, and publishing his first book at 65 made him an inspiration to late-bloomers everywhere. Rip Frank McCourt.