September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984
Truman Capote died about a month short of his 60th birthday. He was the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood. He was also close friends with Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who helped Capote research for his book In Cold Blood.
In his Will, Capote established a literary trust, which would continue to be funded by income from his work, to support literary prizes and grants.1 He has been quoted as saying, not long before his death, “I am not a saint. I am an alcoholic, I am a drug addict, and I am a homosexual. But I am a genius.”2
You can read an except of his obituary here.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote#Posthumously_published_early_novel
2 Tod Benoit, Where Are They Buried? (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.), 286.
