William Safire, NYT Columnist, Dies At 79

The New York Times is reporting that William Safire, a Nixon speechwriter, former Times op-ed columnist and — most recently — the writer of the “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine every Sunday, died today of pancreatic cancer at age 79.

An accomplished, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Safire wrote his twice weekly op-ed column “Essay” for the Times from 1973 until 2005.