Influential writer Elmore Leonard has passed at 87

“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” – Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard, the famous writer of “Get Shorty,” “Hombre,” “3:10 to Yuma” and Justified, has passed away today at the age of 87.

According to Leonard’s official Facebook page, his death was caused by complications caused by a stroke he suffered three weeks ago:

The post I dreaded to write, and you dreaded to read. Elmore passed away at 7:15 this morning from complications from his stroke. He was at home surrounded by his loving family.

Elmore has lived in and called the city of Detroit home since 1934.

In 2008, Leonard was bestowed the honor of receiving the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award for outstanding achievement in American literature.

Here is a tribute from 2000 for Leonard that features a compilation of many of his film adaptations at the time:

When influential director Quentin Tarantino was asked about Elmore’s impact on his art he said:

Well, when I was a kid and I first started reading his novels I got really caught up in his characters and the way they talked. As I started reading more and more of his novels it kind of gave me permission to go my way with characters talking around things as opposed to talking about them. He showed me that characters can go off on tangents and those tangents are just as valid as anything else. Like the way real people talk.

Leonard has five children, twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren according to his official website.