Veteran New York Times columnist, reporter, and author David Carr died in the paper's newsroom Thursday night. He was 58.

He was pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai-Roosevelt hospital and leaves behind a wife and three daughters.

Carr's death was first reported by Times employees on Twitter, who were informed he had passed before the news was made public. Times executive editor Dean Baquet sent out the following email to Times employees:

Carr was a celebrated writer and commentator who covered media and business for the Times for more than 10 years. He also wrote for the Atlantic, New York Magazine and inside.com; before moving to New York City, he edited the Washington City Paper, and before that, the Twin Cities Readerwhere he got his first big break, which you can read here.

But throughout Carr's 25-year career as a journalist, he also wrote extensively about his personal life, detailing his recovery from cocaine addiction in a 2008 memoir, The Night of the Gun.

The outpouring of grief in media (and other) circles on Twitter is the best testament to the esteem with which Carr was held by journalists and editors—not just for his writing and reporting, but for his hiring and mentorship, and for his well-known skill as a conversationalist and party guest.

Just a few hours before his death, Carr moderated a panel interview with Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and Citzenfour director Laura Poitras, which was broadcast on livestream.


Image via Getty. Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com