P.J. O’Rourke dies at the age of 74 at home in Ohio after battling lung cancer

P.J. O’Rourke, the prolific author and satirist who re-fashioned the irreverence and ‘Gonzo’ journalism of the 1960s counterculture into a distinctive brand of conservative and libertarian commentary, has died at age 74.

O’Rourke died on Tuesday morning from lung cancer, according to his publisher Grove Atlantic Inc. He had been ill in recent months.

‘Our dear friend and cherished Grove Atlantic author P. J. O’Rourke passed away this morning from complications of lung cancer,’ Deb Seager, vice president and spokeswoman at the publishing company, said in statement provided to NBC News.

‘A journalist and political satirist, O’Rourke wrote over twenty books on subjects as diverse as politics, cars, etiquette, and economics, including his two #1 New York Times Bestsellers, Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance.’ 

The author became known for his work as editor-in-chief of the National Lampoon in the 1970s, which included contributions to the 1973 stage show National Lampoon’s Lemmings which helped launch the performing careers of John Belushi, Christopher Guest, and Chevy Chase. 

He also served as a co-editor of the comedy book National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook Parody, which inspired the 1978 hit film Animal House. 

The Toledo, Ohio-born author first discussed being diagnosed with cancer in a 2008 op-ed titled Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, which was printed in several outlets including the Los Angeles Times. 

‘I looked death in the face. All right, I didn’t. I glimpsed him in a crowd. I’ve been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind. I’m told I have a 95% chance of survival,’ he wrote at the time.

‘Come to think of it – as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound – my chance of survival has been improved by cancer.’ 

The satirist shared how he ‘cursed God’ when he received the news he had been diagnosed with a malignant hemorrhoid and found himself contemplating death. 

‘Why can’t death – if we must have it – be always glorious, as in “The Iliad”? Of course death continues to be so, sometimes, with heroes in Fallouja and Kandahar. But nowadays, death more often comes drooling on the toilet seat in the nursing home, or bleeding under the crushed roof of a teen-driven SUV, or breathless in a deluxe hotel suite filled with empty drug bottles and a minor public figure whose celebrity expiration date has passed,’ he wrote. 

‘Death is so important that God visited death upon his own son, thereby helping us learn right from wrong well enough that we may escape death forever and live eternally in God’s grace. 

‘Thus, the next time I glimpse death … well, I’m not going over and introducing myself. I’m not giving the grim reaper fist daps. But I’ll remind myself to try, at least, to thank God for death. And then I’ll thank God, with all my heart, for whiskey.’

It remains unclear when O’Rourke went into remission for his anal cancer and when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. 

O’Rourke’s death has left many journalists, writers and columnists with holes in their hearts.

The author – who is survived by his wife, Tina O’Rourke, and their three children: Olivia, Clifford and Elizabeth – was hailed as an inspiration and ‘one of the greats’ in tribute posts flooding social media.

‘PJ O’Rourke was an incredible wordsmith, perhaps the funniest writer of the last forty years, and a good person, too. RIP,’ political commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted.

‘I hung out with PJ O’Rourke many times at conventions and other Serious Events populated by Serious Journalists; he was excellent company at those things, because he refused to take them seriously,’ former journalist Dave Berry wrote. ‘He was a joy to be around. I’ll miss him, and I’ll miss his voice.’

‘I’m devastated to hear that the brilliant PJ O’Rourke—my colleague for the last year and a half—has just passed away. PJ’s humorous style was unrivaled. It was an honor to have work w/ him. He was truly one of the GREATS,’ echoed television host Trish Regan. ‘RIP PJ. You will be dearly missed.’

Washington Post columnist Sonny Bunch added: ‘PJ O’Rourke was one of the nicest writers I ever had the pleasure of meeting and drinking and (very rarely) corresponding with. No reason whatsoever for him to be decent to some junior editor at one of the many outlets he wrote for, and yet. What a loss.’ 

O’Rourke evolved from long-haired student activist to wavy-haired scourge of his old liberal ideals, with some of his more widely read take downs appearing in a founding counterculture publication, Rolling Stone. 

His career otherwise extended from the early years of National Lampoon to a brief stint on 60 Minutes in which he represented the conservative take on Point/Counterpoint to frequent appearances on NPR’s game show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! He was also a longtime guest on MSNBC.

Over the course of his career O’Rourke penned more than 20 books covering topics such as politics, economics and automobiles. 

In addition to Rolling Stone, he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly before contributing to the pages of Automobile Magazine, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Car and Driver, The Daily Beast and The Weekly Standard. 

His writing style suggested a cross between the hedonism of Hunter S. Thompson and the patrician mockery of Tom Wolfe: Self-importance was a reliable target. But his greatest disdain was often for the government — not just a specific administration, but government itself and what he called ‘the silken threads of entitlement spending.’

In a 2018 column for a venerable conservative publication, The Weekly Standard, he looked on with scorn at Washington, D.C.’s gentrification.  

‘People are flocking to the seat of government power. One would say ‘dogs returning to their vomit’ except that’s too hard on dogs. Too hard on people, also. They come to Washington because they have no choice — diligent working breeds compelled to eat their regurgitated tax dollars,’ he wrote.

O’Rourke’s books included the best sellers Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance, None of My Business and A Cry from the Middle.

Entrekin told The Associated Press that he had been working on a one-volume look at the United States, as seen from his hometown: A History of Toledo, Ohio: From the Beginning of Time Til the End of the Universe.