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Video: Global National‘s Ross Lord takes a look at the life and career of Tom Clancy.

TORONTO — Tom Clancy, one of the best-selling authors of all time, is dead. He was 66.

Clancy, whose books were frequently adapted into movies, passed away Wednesday night at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after a brief illness.

Clancy wrote such novels as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Sum of All Fears and last year’s Threat Vector.

He created the character Jack Ryan, who has been portrayed on screen by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.

His latest work featuring Ryan, written with Mark Greaney, is entitled Command Authority and due out in December.

On the official Facebook page, Clancy is remembered as “Beloved Author, Colleague, Friend, Patriot.”

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Author Joe Hill, whose novel Horns was made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe last year, tweeted: “Stunned by the news about Tom Clancy. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER was a masterful thriller.”

Also on Twitter, Jackie Collins wrote: “RIP Tom Clancy. A great storyteller.”

Hidden Order author Brad Thor tweeted: “Thank you for your patriotism and the countless hours of thrilling reading.”

In 1996, Clancy co-founded the video game company Red Storm Entertainment, which was later acquired by Ubisoft Entertainment. His name continues to appear on the wildly popular Splinter Cell series of video games.

In a statement, Ubisoft said: “We are saddened to learn of Tom Clancy’s passing and our condolences go out to his family. Tom Clancy was an extraordinary author with a gift for creating detailed, engrossing fictional stories that captivated audiences around the world. The teams at Ubisoft, especially at the Red Storm studio, are incredibly grateful to have collaborated with and learned from him, and we are humbled by the opportunity to carry on part of his legacy through our properties that bear his name.”

Clancy started writing while working in the insurance business, loosely basing his first novel on a 1975 mutiny aboard a Soviet ship. It became The Hunt for Red October, published in 1984.

Clancy was married from 1969 to 1996 and then, three years later, married freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn.

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Clancy’s death was first reported by the New York Times.

Watch: Global Toronto’s News at Noon reports on the death of author Tom Clancy.

This post has been updated.