Evan Wright, award-winning journalist and author of “Generation Kill,” has passed away.
He was 59 years old.
Wright reportedly committed suicide on Friday at his Los Angeles home. County Coroner’s OfficeHis widow, Kelly Wright, also confirmed his death to his former publication. Rolling Stoneon sunday.
Wright gained national fame as a writer after serving with the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, which spearheaded the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
He accompanied the battalion for two months as it marched toward Baghdad, earning the Marines’ trust during combat operations and providing detailed first-hand accounts of their struggles in the combat zone.
Wright described his experience in Rolling Stone magazine:Killer EliteAfter returning from Iraq, he wrote an article for “The New York Times,” which won a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting in 2004.
The success of his articles led him to expand the series and publish the critically acclaimed book “Generation Kill” the same year.
Since its publication, the book has won numerous awards, including the J. Anthony Lucas Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Book Award “Current Interest” and Marine Corps Heritage Foundation awards Outstanding Non-Fiction.
Following its success, “The Wire” creator David Simon adapted the book into a seven-part miniseries for HBO in 2008.
Wright also served as a writer on the miniseries, alongside Simon and actor Ed Burns.
This program is 11 Emmy Awards It won several awards in 2009, including Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries.
“We have lost a brilliant journalist and storyteller. Evan’s contributions to the writing and filming of this Generation Kill Simon Posts X on Sunday.
“He was engaging, funny, and not the least bit wild, like so many reporters. There are plenty of memorable moments from his time writing in Baltimore and on set in Africa.”
Nathan Fick, a young Marine officer who served with Wright as a platoon leader and who appears primarily in films like “Generation Kill” and “Killer Elite,” said he remembers Wright as “a good, gentle guy in a place that was not good or gentle.”
“Though he was not a Marine, many of us who spent time with him in March and April 2003 considered Evan one of us for the past 20 years. Rest in peace, brother,” Fick said in a LinkedIn statement. Monday.
Wright was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and went to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he earned a degree in medieval history in the 1990s before moving to Los Angeles.
Prior to his work at Rolling Stone, he was entertainment editor at Hustler magazine in 1995.
In 2008, he won his second National Magazine Profile Writing Award for his Vanity Fair article. “Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood”
Wright has also written books such as “Hella Nation” (2009), which chronicled various subcultures across America, and “How to Get Away with Murder in America” (2012), which detailed the FBI’s murder investigation of a senior CIA officer.
Wright was promoting Max’s new documentary, “Teen Torture, Inc.”, in which he was interviewed about his experiences at The Seed, “a so-called Scared Straight program for at-risk youth based in South Florida,” the outlet reported. The Hollywood Reporter.
He was listed as co-executive producer on the project, and the first episode of the show aired the day before his death.
One of Wright’s final posts about X was a promotion for the series.
Wright is survived by his wife, Kelly, and their three children.
If you or someone you know is experiencing any of the issues discussed in this article, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line to 741741.
