Russian author Boris Strugatsky, 79, died November 19, 2012 in St. Petersburg, Russia from heart problems and pneumonia. Strugatsky and his older brother Arkady (died 1991) were famous for their collaborations. They are easily the best known Russian SF writers worldwide, and were considered major writers in their homeland, though their sometimes satirical work often brought them into conflict with the government of what was then the Soviet Union. The Strugatsky Brothers wrote dozens of SF novels, stories, and collections together, most famously Piknik na obochine (Roadside Picnic, 1972), a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award that was adapted for film by Andrei Tarkovsky as Stalker (1979). After his brother’s death, Strugatsky published two books under the pseudonym S. Vititsky.

Boris Natanovich Strugatsky was born April 14, 1933 in Leningrad, and remained in Leningrad during the siege in WWII. He attended Leningrad State University, where he studied astronomy, graduating in 1955. He worked as an astronomer and computer scientist until becoming a full-time writer in 1966.

See the January 2013 issue of Locus for a complete obituary.