Reynolds Price, 77, died on Thursday January 20, 2011 in Durham, N.C. after suffering a heart attack. He is best known for his novels A Rich and Happy Life and Kate Vaiden and for his three volumes of memoirs. His writing, according to the Washington Post, had modern fiction stylings, combining “mandarin manner” with “rich colloquial speech of his native North Carolina.”

His speaking voice, beloved by many, can still be heard on a series of commentaries he performed for NPR throughout the 1990s. In 1984, a cancerous tumor near his spinal column left him paralyzed from the waist down. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University, where he served on the faculty for over fifty years, up until his death.

In Price’s New York Times obituary, novelist Allan Gurganus claimed Price was the best young writer this country has ever produced, adding, “he started out with a voice, a lyric gift and a sense of humor, and an insight about how people lived and what they’ll do to get along.”