NEW YORK (AP)— Louis S. Auchincloss, a prolific author of fiction and nonfiction whose dozens of books imparted sober, firsthand knowledge of America's patrician class, has died. He was 92.
The author's grandson, James Auchincloss, said Wednesday that Mr. Auchincloss died Tuesday, a week after suffering a stroke.
Mr. Auchincloss wrote more than 50 books, averaging about one a year after the end of World War II, and crafted such accomplished works as the novel "The Rector of Justin" and the memoir "A Writer's Capital," not to mention biographies, literary criticism and short stories.
He was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award, his nominated novels including "The Embezzler" and "The House of Five Talents."
Mr. Auchincloss lived up to the Old World ideal of being "useful," bearing the various titles of writer, attorney, community leader and family man. He was a partner at the Wall Street firm of Hawkins, Delafield& Wood and the father of three. He served as president of both the Museum of the City of New York and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He was also a cousin by marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and she worked with him during her years as a book editor after her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. He described her as "a shrewd and imaginative editor of prose, and she has impeccable taste in illustrations. She's always done things very well, ever since she was a little girl."
Mr. Auchincloss had an old-fashioned aversion to change, and his presence could be likened to a building granted landmark status. Into his 90s, his stride was erect, his jaw line stubbornly firm, and his dark, moody eyes less windows to the soul than the most discriminating of gatekeepers.
Wednesday, author Gore Vidal praised Mr. Auchincloss as a close friend whose literary subject was unique. "Nobody else took those kinds of people, because nobody else understood them, except in the dumbest way," Vidal said.
Mr. Auchincloss did not seek to praise the rich, but to make sense of them. He was a Puritan who brooded over the conflicts between money and principles, and over the privileged person's right to be happy. Several of his best-known books featured introspective young men and women.
His early years were typical of his class: a Fifth Avenue private school, Groton, Yale University, law school at the University of Virginia. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he completed his first novel, "The Indifferent Children," a war story the insecure young writer published under the pen name Andrew Lee.
Mr. Auchincloss' other works included the novels "Her Infinite Variety" and "Pursuit of the Prodigal," the story collection "Tales of Manhattan" and a short biography of Theodore Roosevelt for Times Books' presidential series. He was so compulsive a writer that after completing the Roosevelt book, he showed up unannounced at the offices of his publisher with a finished text for Calvin Coolidge, only to be told the president's life had been assigned to someone else.
The author's grandson, James Auchincloss, said Wednesday that Mr. Auchincloss died Tuesday, a week after suffering a stroke.
Mr. Auchincloss wrote more than 50 books, averaging about one a year after the end of World War II, and crafted such accomplished works as the novel "The Rector of Justin" and the memoir "A Writer's Capital," not to mention biographies, literary criticism and short stories.
He was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award, his nominated novels including "The Embezzler" and "The House of Five Talents."
Mr. Auchincloss lived up to the Old World ideal of being "useful," bearing the various titles of writer, attorney, community leader and family man. He was a partner at the Wall Street firm of Hawkins, Delafield& Wood and the father of three. He served as president of both the Museum of the City of New York and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He was also a cousin by marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and she worked with him during her years as a book editor after her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. He described her as "a shrewd and imaginative editor of prose, and she has impeccable taste in illustrations. She's always done things very well, ever since she was a little girl."
Mr. Auchincloss had an old-fashioned aversion to change, and his presence could be likened to a building granted landmark status. Into his 90s, his stride was erect, his jaw line stubbornly firm, and his dark, moody eyes less windows to the soul than the most discriminating of gatekeepers.
Wednesday, author Gore Vidal praised Mr. Auchincloss as a close friend whose literary subject was unique. "Nobody else took those kinds of people, because nobody else understood them, except in the dumbest way," Vidal said.
Mr. Auchincloss did not seek to praise the rich, but to make sense of them. He was a Puritan who brooded over the conflicts between money and principles, and over the privileged person's right to be happy. Several of his best-known books featured introspective young men and women.
His early years were typical of his class: a Fifth Avenue private school, Groton, Yale University, law school at the University of Virginia. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he completed his first novel, "The Indifferent Children," a war story the insecure young writer published under the pen name Andrew Lee.
Mr. Auchincloss' other works included the novels "Her Infinite Variety" and "Pursuit of the Prodigal," the story collection "Tales of Manhattan" and a short biography of Theodore Roosevelt for Times Books' presidential series. He was so compulsive a writer that after completing the Roosevelt book, he showed up unannounced at the offices of his publisher with a finished text for Calvin Coolidge, only to be told the president's life had been assigned to someone else.
NEW YORK (AP)— Louis S. Auchincloss, a prolific author of fiction and nonfiction whose dozens of books imparted sober, firsthand knowledge of America's patrician class, has died. He was 92.
The author's grandson, James Auchincloss, said Wednesday that Mr. Auchincloss died Tuesday, a week after suffering a stroke.
Mr. Auchincloss wrote more than 50 books, averaging about one a year after the end of World War II, and crafted such accomplished works as the novel "The Rector of Justin" and the memoir "A Writer's Capital," not to mention biographies, literary criticism and short stories.
He was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award, his nominated novels including "The Embezzler" and "The House of Five Talents."
Mr. Auchincloss lived up to the Old World ideal of being "useful," bearing the various titles of writer, attorney, community leader and family man. He was a partner at the Wall Street firm of Hawkins, Delafield& Wood and the father of three. He served as president of both the Museum of the City of New York and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He was also a cousin by marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and she worked with him during her years as a book editor after her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. He described her as "a shrewd and imaginative editor of prose, and she has impeccable taste in illustrations. She's always done things very well, ever since she was a little girl."
Mr. Auchincloss had an old-fashioned aversion to change, and his presence could be likened to a building granted landmark status. Into his 90s, his stride was erect, his jaw line stubbornly firm, and his dark, moody eyes less windows to the soul than the most discriminating of gatekeepers.
Wednesday, author Gore Vidal praised Mr. Auchincloss as a close friend whose literary subject was unique. "Nobody else took those kinds of people, because nobody else understood them, except in the dumbest way," Vidal said.
Mr. Auchincloss did not seek to praise the rich, but to make sense of them. He was a Puritan who brooded over the conflicts between money and principles, and over the privileged person's right to be happy. Several of his best-known books featured introspective young men and women.
His early years were typical of his class: a Fifth Avenue private school, Groton, Yale University, law school at the University of Virginia. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he completed his first novel, "The Indifferent Children," a war story the insecure young writer published under the pen name Andrew Lee.
Mr. Auchincloss' other works included the novels "Her Infinite Variety" and "Pursuit of the Prodigal," the story collection "Tales of Manhattan" and a short biography of Theodore Roosevelt for Times Books' presidential series. He was so compulsive a writer that after completing the Roosevelt book, he showed up unannounced at the offices of his publisher with a finished text for Calvin Coolidge, only to be told the president's life had been assigned to someone else.
The author's grandson, James Auchincloss, said Wednesday that Mr. Auchincloss died Tuesday, a week after suffering a stroke.
Mr. Auchincloss wrote more than 50 books, averaging about one a year after the end of World War II, and crafted such accomplished works as the novel "The Rector of Justin" and the memoir "A Writer's Capital," not to mention biographies, literary criticism and short stories.
He was a four-time fiction finalist for the National Book Award, his nominated novels including "The Embezzler" and "The House of Five Talents."
Mr. Auchincloss lived up to the Old World ideal of being "useful," bearing the various titles of writer, attorney, community leader and family man. He was a partner at the Wall Street firm of Hawkins, Delafield& Wood and the father of three. He served as president of both the Museum of the City of New York and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He was also a cousin by marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and she worked with him during her years as a book editor after her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. He described her as "a shrewd and imaginative editor of prose, and she has impeccable taste in illustrations. She's always done things very well, ever since she was a little girl."
Mr. Auchincloss had an old-fashioned aversion to change, and his presence could be likened to a building granted landmark status. Into his 90s, his stride was erect, his jaw line stubbornly firm, and his dark, moody eyes less windows to the soul than the most discriminating of gatekeepers.
Wednesday, author Gore Vidal praised Mr. Auchincloss as a close friend whose literary subject was unique. "Nobody else took those kinds of people, because nobody else understood them, except in the dumbest way," Vidal said.
Mr. Auchincloss did not seek to praise the rich, but to make sense of them. He was a Puritan who brooded over the conflicts between money and principles, and over the privileged person's right to be happy. Several of his best-known books featured introspective young men and women.
His early years were typical of his class: a Fifth Avenue private school, Groton, Yale University, law school at the University of Virginia. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he completed his first novel, "The Indifferent Children," a war story the insecure young writer published under the pen name Andrew Lee.
Mr. Auchincloss' other works included the novels "Her Infinite Variety" and "Pursuit of the Prodigal," the story collection "Tales of Manhattan" and a short biography of Theodore Roosevelt for Times Books' presidential series. He was so compulsive a writer that after completing the Roosevelt book, he showed up unannounced at the offices of his publisher with a finished text for Calvin Coolidge, only to be told the president's life had been assigned to someone else.
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