'Prince of Tides' author Pat Conroy dead at 70

Pat Conroy, whose best-selling novels drew from his own sometimes painful experiences and evoked vistas of the South Carolina coast and its people, has died.

Todd Doughty, executive director of publicity at publisher Doubleday, says Conroy died Friday evening at his home in Beaufort surrounded by family and loved ones.

Conroy, who announced last month that he had pancreatic cancer, was 70.

Doughty says in a statement that funeral arrangements are still being made.

Conroy's novels of troubled relationships and dysfunctional families included "The Great Santini" and "The Prince of Tides." Those books and two others became movies.