William Safire, Political Columnist and Oracle of Language, Dies at 79

By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published in The New York Times, September 27, 2009

William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop’s treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md., on Sunday. He was 79.

Full obituary - NYT.