/Pete Hamill, renowned New York City journalist, dies at 85

Pete Hamill, renowned New York City journalist, dies at 85

Famed New York journalist Pete Hamill, an acclaimed wordsmith who dominated pages at the city’s tabloid newspapers, died on Wednesday.

His brother, Denis Hamill, and literary agent Esther Newberg both confirmed the writer’s passing to NBC News.

He was 85.

At the time of his death, Hamill’s was working on a mob-themed novel and a nonfiction book about his beloved home borough of Brooklyn, according to Newberg.

Despite a host of health issues, Hamill was in good spirits, Newberg said, when she last saw him in a Zoom call for his birthday in late June and during a phone call two weeks ago.

“He was very upbeat and said, ‘I have a lot more life,’ ” Newberg said, recalling Hamill’s birthday Zoom.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hailed Hamill as the “voice of New York.”

“So saddened to hear that Pete Hamill passed away,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Pete was not just an unsurpassed journalist, editor and writer — he was the voice of New York. We say goodbye today to an irreplaceable New Yorker.​ I know that his legacy and work will live on.”

Hamill was editor-in-chief of The New York Post in 1993 during a famous newsroom revolt against would-be publisher Abe Hirschfeld. He was later editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News.

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