Robert Daley, the author whose novels and works of nonfiction spanned a wide field of subjects, has died at 96, the New York Times reports.
Daley, a Manhattan native, was educated at Fordham University and served one year in the U.S. Air Force before taking a job as a publicist for the New York Giants. He worked for the NFL team for six years before becoming a reporter for the Times, covering news and sports in Europe and North Africa.
In 1971, he was appointed deputy commissioner for public affairs for the New York Police Department. Daley was controversial in the role, carrying a gun and seeming to relish his spot in the limelight.
He published his first book, The World Beneath the City, about underground New York, in 1959. He would go on to write several more nonfiction titles, including Cars at Speed, Target Blue, and, most famously, Prince of the City, a book about a New York police officer who exposes corrupt colleagues. The book was adapted into a 1981 film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Treat Williams and Jerry Orbach.
Daley also wrote more than a dozen crime novels, including The Whole Truth, To Kill a Cop, Year of the Dragon, Wall of Brass, and The Innocents Within.
In a 2021 interview with New York radio station WFUV, Daley was asked if he’s ever able to be satisfied by his work.
“The drive forward was curiosity, finding out about this stuff, and then finding out ways to use it, to sell it, which I had to do anyway if I wanted to make a living and go on learning,” he said. “All of this is interwoven. It’s not as complex as it sounds. That’s the way the world works, and that’s the way I worked it.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
