WASHINGTON, Jan 18: Legendary US columnist Art Buchwald, whose biting humour appeared in newspapers around the world for more than 50 years, has died at the age of 81, his son said on Thursday.

“He died at home at around 11:40 last night,” his son Joel told AFP. “He died peacefully in his sleep. I was there and my wife and his grandson.” The cause of death was renal failure, he added.

Buchwald was born in New York state and became a stringer for Variety magazine in the late 1940s.

He worked as a syndicated columnist for the Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Media Services from 1952 until his death. At one stage, he was the most syndicated columnist in the world.

He returned to the United States from Paris in 1962 to write columns for the Washington Post and dozens of other newspapers, specialising in political satire.

He wrote more than 30 books, including I’ll Always Have Paris, and in 1982, won the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding commentary.—AFP