St. Paul native Vince Flynn was nothing if not persevering. Undaunted by dyslexia and dozens of rejection letters from publishers, he became a top author of political thrillers, selling millions of books worldwide.
After being diagnosed with Stage III metatastic prostate cancer in November 2010, he remained upbeat, vowing to fans that this was "not a battle I plan on losing." He even titled his last book "The Survivor."
But Flynn did lose that struggle Wednesday. He was 47.
His fans included prominent politicians and broadcast personalities, from former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who once sent a private jet to fly Flynn to his annual golf tournament so the author wouldn't have to miss cancer treatments.
Flynn twice had private audiences with President Bush, who had been introduced to Flynn's books by former CIA director Porter Goss. "He wanted to know where I got my information," he said.
Flynn was nearly as famous for his frequent appearances on local and national conservative radio and TV programs as he was for his fiction. Well-informed, articulate and strongly opinionated, he was the ideal talk-show guest.
"You can count on two hands the guys Hugh's had on who he's friends with and Vince is one," said Duane Patterson, producer of the Hugh Hewitt Show. "His first show, it was like meeting the best friend you didn't know you had. When he'd come out it would be a male-bonding, man-cave moment."
Dan Barreiro who hosts KFAN's afternoon drive-time slot in the Twin Cities, said Flynn "had the gift of gab. After a few years of successs he wouldn't have needed to come on the local shows to sell books, but he did it anyway. And interviewing him was like butter. Sometimes he'd say things to get the lefties going. He never ran from it, he wasn't afraid of it.
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