Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy was an acclaimed American author known for his poignant exploration of complex themes such as violence, familial relationships, and racism in the Southern United States. Born on October 26, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia, Conroy grew up in a strict military family, which significantly influenced his writing. He graduated from the Citadel in 1967 and initially worked as a high school English teacher. His experiences—including teaching African American children on Daufuskie Island—shaped his literary voice, leading to his first notable success, *The Water Is Wide* (1972).
Conroy's notable works also include *The Great Santini* (1976) and *The Lords of Discipline* (1980), both of which reflect his personal experiences and often drew on his tumultuous relationship with his father. His bestselling novel *The Prince of Tides* (1986) further solidified his reputation as a major literary figure. Throughout his life, Conroy faced personal challenges, including divorces and family estrangement, but he ultimately reconciled with his father before his death in 1998.
Conroy continued to write until his passing from pancreatic cancer on March 4, 2016. His final work, *The Death of Santini* (2013), details his journey of reconciliation and reflects on the impact of his familial relationships. Conroy's legacy endures through his powerful storytelling and the way he candidly addressed his own life experiences.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Pat Conroy
- Born: October 26, 1945
- Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
- Died: March 4, 2016
- Place of death: Beaufort, South Carolina
Biography
Pat Conroy wrote novels about violence, the love/hate relationships between men, and racism in the South. His ability to write honestly about his own failings made his books successful both as novels and as film adaptations.
Donald Patrick Conroy was born on October 26, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia, one of seven children. His father, Donald Conroy, was a Marine Corps pilot and a strict disciplinarian, and his mother, Frances Dorothy Peek Conroy, was a homemaker. The family moved frequently, and Conroy attended eleven Catholic schools in twelve years. Following his father’s wishes, Conroy attended the Citadel, the military college in South Carolina, graduating in 1967.
After college, he became a high school English teacher and spent a summer traveling through Europe with friends. These experiences showed him how limited and conservative his life had been. In 1969, Conroy married Barbara Bolling, with whom he had a daughter, Megan, and raised Bolling’s two daughters, Jessica and Melissa. He eventually took a job teaching sheltered and barely literate African American children on Daufuskie Island off the South Carolina coast. He was fired from this job for refusing to go along with the teaching methods and the system of discipline he was expected to use with the children. His anger at being fired led him to write his first successful book, The Water Is Wide (1972), a slightly fictionalized account of his year on the island. The book was both popular and critically acclaimed, and Conroy was able to become a full-time writer in Atlanta.
Conroy’s next book, the novel The Great Santini (1976), is also autobiographical. It is the story of a stern military father and his oldest son’s struggle for respect and independence. Although Conroy insisted that the book was fiction, its harsh treatment of the father character caused some members of his family to break off contact with him. His father, however, came to like the attention he received from the book and the subsequent film, although the relationship between father and son remained uneasy.
In 1980, he published The Lords of Discipline, a novel about friendship, hazing, and racism set in a fictional military academy. The book and subsequent film were popular successes, but the Citadel denounced Conroy as a traitor and forbade him to return to his alma mater. Conroy divorced his first wife in 1977, and in 1981 he married Lenore Gurewitz; their family included a daughter, Susannah, and Gurewitz’s children, Gregory and Emily. The couple divorced in 1995.
Conroy continued to write novels, including the well-received The Prince of Tides (1986), often drawing on his own struggles and those of his family. After his second divorce, Conroy attempted to repair some of the rifts in his life. He and his father reconciled before his father died of cancer in 1998. In 2000, the Citadel welcomed Conroy back and awarded him an honorary degree. My Losing Season (2002) is a nonfiction account of his experiences playing basketball as a senior at the Citadel.
After publishing the novel South of Broad and being inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2009, Conroy went on to publish the nonfiction work My Reading Life (2010), in which he reflects on the positive impacts that reading had on his life, as well as the powerful memoir The Death of Santini (2013), which goes into great detail about his reconciliation with his father. This would be the last book that he would write, as he died after a battle with pancreatic cancer at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, on March 4, 2016, at the age of seventy. Later that year, A Lowcountry Heart, a collection of his interviews, essays, blog posts, and lectures was published in recognition of his career.
Bibliography
"Biography." Pat Conroy, www.patconroy.com/about.php. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.
Conroy, Pat. "Interview with Pat Conroy." Interview by Teresa Weaver. Atlanta, 30 Sept. 2013, www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/interview-with-pat-conroy/. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.
Grimes, William. "Pat Conroy, Author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, Dies at 70." The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/books/pat-conroy-who-wove-his-family-strife-into-novels-of-carolina-dies-at-70.html. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.
Krug, Nora. "Novelist Pat Conroy Was 'Dying' Three Years Ago. Here's How He Got Healthy." The Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/how-writer-pat-conroy-lost-weight-and-took-back-his-health-just-in-time/2015/08/17/2dfe493a-2bcf-11e5-bd33-395c05608059‗story.html?utm‗term=.e4ca9c6eb533. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.
Trott, Bill. "Pat Conroy, Author of Prince of Tides, Dead at 70." HuffPost, 5 Mar. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pat-conroy-dead‗us‗56da6e5ee4b03a405678d15a. Accessed 20 Nov. 2017.