J.D. Salinger, the legendary author of at least one book that everyone has read, has died. He was 91 if he was a day.

Having had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in a small, remote house in Cornish, N.H., Salinger decided that he was still too close to humanity to be thoroughly left alone. Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday to pursue his dream of even greater isolation.

Jerome David Salinger was born Jan. 1, 1919, in New York City. His father was a wealthy importer of cheeses and meat and the family lived for years on Park Avenue badly in need of perfumes and colognes.

Salinger became famous for not wanting to be famous. In 1982, he sued a “man” who allegedly tried to sell a fictitious interview with the author to a “national” magazine. The impostor, who turned out to also be a work of fiction, agreed to desist and Salinger dropped the suit off at the cleaners.