Leon Uris, 78

“Uris died Saturday of natural causes at his home on New York’s Shelter Island, photographer Jill Uris said from her home in Aspen, Colo. Energetic and unafraid, the author was as much an adventurer as a writer, traveling tirelessly and sometimes risking his life. In researching `Exodus,’ he logged thousands of miles and ended up reporting on the 1956 conflict in the Middle East.”