As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association with an “A+” rating for her voting record in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Debra Maggart never imagined that her political career would end this way.WASHINGTON – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Ben Cramer, whose narrative nonfiction spanned presidential politics and the game of baseball, has died. He was 62.
Cramer died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from complications of lung cancer, his agent, Philippa Brophy, said. Cramer lived with his wife, Joan, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Cramer won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting from the Middle East while with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
His other notable work included a best-selling biography of New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio, an influential magazine profile of another baseball star, Ted Williams, and a critically acclaimed, behind-the-scenes account of the 1988 U.S. presidential race, “What It Takes: The Way to the White House.”
Cramer was known for an in-depth reporting style that involved spending significant time with the subjects he profiled and recreating scenes with vivid color and dialogue.
Cramer’s 2000 biography of DiMaggio, “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life,” made best-seller lists and offered a complex, multi-faceted portrayal of his life and career.
