Fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, creator of the Discworld series, and author of more than 70 books, has died at the age of 66.<\/p>\n
Pratchett suffered from a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and\u00a0campaigned for the right of critically ill patients to choose assisted suicide.<\/p>\n
In a statement on the Transworld Publishers website, MD Larry Finlay said that Pratchett passed away in his home on 12 March 2015 “with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family”.<\/p>\n
The full statement from Finlay follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66.<\/p>\n
I was deeply saddened to learn that Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.<\/p>\n
In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention.<\/p>\n
Terry faced his Alzheimer\u2019s disease (an \u2018embuggerance\u2019, as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come.<\/p>\n
My sympathies go out to Terry\u2019s wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March 2015. Diagnosed with PCA1 in 2007, he battled the progressive disease with his trademark determination and creativity, and continued to write. He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014, before succumbing to the final stages of the disease.<\/p>\n
We ask that the family are left undisturbed at this distressing time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thank you Sir Terry, for the gifts\u00a0you created for\u00a0us. You will be deeply missed and \u2014\u00a0so long as people keep reading good books \u2014 never forgotten.<\/p>\n