Matthew J. Bruccoli | Expert on Fitzgerald, 76

Matthew J. Bruccoli, 76, a University of South Carolina English professor who wrote and edited two dozen books on author F. Scott Fitzgerald, has died.

Mr. Bruccoli died Wednesday at his home in Columbia, S.C. He had worked at the university until he was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, officials there said.

He taught at the university for almost 40 years and was the Emily Brown Jefferies distinguished professor emeritus. Besides his work on Fitzgerald, he wrote and edited dozens of books on other 20th-century writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, John O'Hara and James Dickey.

His fascination with Fitzgerald began in 1947 when, as a high school student, he heard a radio drama of a Fitzgerald short story.

In 1974, Mr. Bruccoli cowrote

The Romantic Egoists

with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's only child, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith.

- AP