Hillerman, Tony 1925-2008 (Anthony Grove Hillerman)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born May 27, 1925, in Sacred Heart, OK; died of pulmonary failure, October 26, 2008, in Albuquerque, NM. Journalist, educator, editor, novelist, memoirist, and author. Hillerman was named a Special Friend of the Dineh (Navajo people) by the Navajo Nation in 1987. The honor commemorated the sharing of deep mutual respect between the people who live at the dusty intersection of the Four Corners (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona) and the outsider who came to love the people, their land, and their culture. After a successful but unexciting fifteen-year career as a newspaper journalist, Hillerman changed his course. He earned a graduate degree at the University of New Mexico (where he later taught for twenty years) and began a new career as a novelist. Thirty-five years and thirty books later, Hillerman had won the hearts of millions of readers. He had accumulated many prominent awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Grandmaster Award of the Mystery Writers of America, and the Golden Spur Award of the Western Writers of the America. Most of Hillerman's books are mystery novels. Eighteen of the novels chronicle the adventures of two officers of the Navajo Tribal Police: Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, a cynical veteran near the end of his career, who spends much of his life outside the Navajo culture; and Officer Jim Chee, a younger fellow attempting to assimilate his life in law enforcement with his spiritual quest to become a shaman to his people. Hillerman's novels succeeded on many levels. His crime stories were rated as top-notch in their genre. His sensitive treatment of Navajo culture earned him the highest regard from the Dineh, and many readers mistakenly believed that Hillerman had himself been born into the Navajo Nation. His masterful development of charact- er, setting, and theme drew millions of mainstream readers into his fold. Hillerman's police officers were complicated men who struggled to balance life in two worlds, the tug of war between tradition and technology, the maturing process of men in a cultural landscape that is also threatened by age, and the conflict between public service and personal obligation. His attention to place left readers with a deep appreciation for the desert in all its manifestations: the beauty, the danger, and the eternity of the land. Hillerman's people were the Dineh, but his themes were universal. From Leaphorn's debut in The Blessing Way (1970) to Chee's introduction in People of Darkness (1978) to the last novel, featuring both officers, The Shape Shifter (2006), Hillerman's admirers remained loyal. Not all of his books were crime novels. Hillerman's Country: A Journey through the Southwest with Tony Hillerman (1991) is a collection of photographs by the author's brother, Barney, with commentary by the author. Finding Moon (1995) is a novel set in Cambodia. Hillerman wrote essays, a children's story, and an autobiography. He also edited collections of fiction, photographs, and essays, but he will be remembered for his haunting tales of the Navajos and their world.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bulow, Ernie, and Tony Hillerman, Talking Mysteries: A Conversation with Tony Hillerman, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1991.

Erisman, Fred, Tony Hillerman, Boise State University (Boise, ID), 1989.

Greenberg, Martin, editor, The Tony Hillerman Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Hillerman, Tony, Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Sobol, John, Tony Hillerman: A Public Life, ECW Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2000.

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, October 28, 2008, sec. 1, p. 28.

Los Angeles Times, October 28, 2008, pp. A1, A18.

New York Times, October 28, 2008, p. B17.

Times (London, England), October 29, 2008. p. 58.