Nearly 1,200 attend funeral Mass for author Pat Conroy

BEAUFORT, S.C. – More than 1,000 people gathered to honour Southern writer Pat Conroy, author of “The Prince of Tides” and other works set on the South Carolina coast.

Alex Sanders was a friend of Conroy and is former president of the College of Charleston and former chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. He told the nearly 1,200 people gathered at a funeral Mass in Beaufort, South Carolina, on Tuesday that Conroy enriched the lives of people worldwide for almost a half century through his writings.

He called Conroy “our very own prince of tides” and said his stories helped people see themselves as others see them.

Conroy sold 20 million books worldwide. He died a week ago Friday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 70.