An award-winning author has died after being hit by a car in a parking lot. Gordon Wood, a Pulitzer Prize winning historian author, was 92 years old.
The East Providence Police Department identified him as the victim of a fatal crash, according to People. Authorities said that the incident happened June 7 in a Shaw's parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island.
He was taken to hospital, but sadly passed away due to the "critical" injuries he sustained. Authorities added that the driver involved in the incident has co-operated, and that no charges have currently been filed against him.
Gordon Wood was a professor emeritus at Brown University. He also held previous teaching positions at Harvard, where he held a Ph.D., and the University of Michigan.
But he was most well known for his books. His 1992 book The Radicalism of the American Revolution earned him both the Pulitzer Prize for history and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize.
In total, he wrote 10 books. Some other notable titles of his include The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787; and The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin.
Both of these titles won notable prizes, with the former winning the Bancroft Prize and the John H. Dunning Prize in 1970. The latter won the Julia Ward Howe Prize in 2005.
Wood also was known in pop culture, if only for a sly reference. Matt Damon's character, Will Hunting, made a reference to the award-winning author in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.
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Academics Have Paid Tribute to the Award-Winning Author
Brown University president Christina H. Paxson paid tribute to the award-winning author and professor emeritus.
"A preeminent scholar of American history ,Gordon Wood helped countless readers understand the events and forces that led to the birth of the United States with depth, nuance and clarity," she wrote.
"He was an inspiring teacher, a generous mentor and a deeply treasured member of the Brown University community for decades."
"We mourn the loss of a towering historian whose insights will inform both academic scholarship and public understanding for generations to come."
