pulitzer medal - winning american publisher jean updike has suffered of throat surgery at a hospice from his home in westwood farms , vermont . he was 76 . born jean hoyer updike in reading , pennsylvania in 1932 , he documented ordinary ― if highly ritualized ― catholic life in around 50 writings , along with the poorhouse fair in 1959 . he once said that his books were about " the americans small rural , secular center status " .
John Updike won the Pulitzer Prize.