Tony Hillerman, Famed Novelist--And Former Newspaperman--Dies At 83

By: Tony Hillerman, a native Oklahoman and author of the acclaimed Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels, has died.

Hillerman died yesterday of pulmonary failure at a hospital in Albuquerque, N.M., at age 83.

Hillerman was born in tiny Sacred Heart, Okla., in 1925, to farmers who ran a small store. He attended St. Mary's Academy near Asher and in 1943 interrupted his education at the University of Oklahoma to join the Army.

He lugged his mortar ashore at D-Day and was severely wounded in battle at Alsace, France. He later returned to OU to finish his degree.

He later worked for newspapers in Lawton; Borger, Texas and Santa Fe, N.M., and for United Press International in Oklahoma City. In 1993, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

Hillerman's commercial breakthrough was "Skinwalkers," published in 1987. It sold 430,000 hardcover copies, paving the way for "A Thief of Time," which made several bestseller lists. In all, he wrote 18 books in the Navajo series, the most recent titled "The Shape Shifter."