"John was a gifted writer and columnist who will be sadly missed, " he said.

BBC: Tributes flood in for Diamond

Fortunately, once in a generation a gifted writer makes the case for us.

FORBES: Digital Rules

The more reasonable ones allow that he is a gifted writer and economist, but also argue that these days his relentless partisanship is getting in the way of his argument.

ECONOMIST: Face value

"He is not only a superb historian, but also a gifted writer whose books are devoured by the public, and a patriot who has donated millions of dollars to environmental and educational causes, " McGovern wrote.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Alas, his work there is now forgotten, and he spent his declining years batting out profiles of show-business celebrities like Mel Brooks and Johnny Carson for the New Yorker, a sad way for so spectacularly gifted a writer to go out.

WSJ: Sightings: The Ungenerous Brilliance of Kenneth Tynan

The writer who calls himself Fake Steve Jobs is one heck of a gifted satirist.

FORBES: Is Fake Steve Jobs Really TV's Bill Gates?

Solomon is in many ways the perfect writer for the subject nuanced, thorough, humane, and a gifted stylist and, trying to get to the root of this conflict, he pushes horizontal identity as far as it will go.

NEWYORKER: Little Strangers