Malcolm MacPherson, a former correspondent for Time and Newsweek whose books included "Roberts Ridge" and a satirical novel about the Iraq war has died. He was 65.
The Bridgeport, Conn., native died Saturday in Warrenton, Va., of a heart attack during a party in celebration of the impending inauguration of Barack Obama, according to Melville House Publishing, which released his novel "Hocus POTUS" in 2007.
He was living in Warrenton with his wife and two children, according to his biography on the Random House Web site.
MacPherson served in the Marines during the Vietnam War and later reported on conflicts in Africa, Northern Ireland and the current war in Iraq. After that he was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek for 12 years.
"Roberts Ridge," a non-fiction book, was set in Afghanistan and "Hocus POTUS" was inspired by his time in Iraq.
“Mr. MacPherson told the Boston Globe that ("Hocus POTUS") came easily after he witnessed so much ineptness among the Americans in Iraq -- including the jailing of an aged soccer hero on terrorist charges -- and ‘thought I would answer farce with farce, fiction with fiction,’” the Washington Post reports.
