Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66.
In a statement, Larry Finlay, MD at Transworld Publishers, said:
I was deeply saddened to learn that Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.
In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.
Terry faced his Alzheimer's disease (an 'embuggerance', as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.
My sympathies go out to Terry's wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him.
Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March 2015. Diagnosed with PCA1 in 2007, he battled the progressive disease with his trademark determination and creativity, and continued to write. He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014, before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.
We ask that the family are left undisturbed at this distressing time.
The news was announced on the author's verified account.
AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.
Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
The End.
Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield.
In his later years Pratchett became known for his campaign to promote assisted dying.
In a piece published in The Guardian in May, Pratchett wrote powerfully about living with dementia.
Prominent figures paid tribute to the author on Twitter:
Sad to hear of Sir Terry Pratchett's death, his books fired the imagination of millions and he fearlessly campaigned for dementia awareness.
"It’s not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren’t doing it." RIP the brilliant Terry Pratchett.
Penguin Books announced that a fundraising page for the Care of Older People had been set up in his memory.
A @JustGiving page for the Research Institute for the Care of Older People (RICE) has been set up in his memory http://t.co/E9hiKdtjCk
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, told ITV News: "I am saddened to hear of the death of Dignity in Dying Patron Sir Terry Pratchett and our thoughts are with his family and close friend Rob Wilkins. Terry was a committed campaigner who did an enormous amount to bring assisted dying for terminally ill people to the public's attention."
Pratchett's daughter expressed her thanks for the support she'd received.
Many thanks for all the kind words about my dad. Those last few tweets were sent with shaking hands and tear-filled eyes.
And there were other moving tributes.
The t-shirt that Terry Pratchett wore to conventions:
DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH. – TERRY PRATCHETT (1948-2015)
“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...” Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
His sometime collaborator Neil Gaiman tweeted this:
I will miss you, Terry, so much. This is the last thing I wrote about you. http://t.co/YKAFrKjkLc
And his wife this:
woke up early, checked my Patreon feed & someone had posted the sad news about Terry Pratchett. went to bed, held neil, told him, held him.
Terry Pratchett: 28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015.
