Robert Novak, the conservative columnist who learned recently that he has a brain tumor, says his condition is “dire” and he has retired, his home newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, reported on Monday.

Mr. Novak, 77, announced on July 28 that the tumor had been diagnosed the day before, and he released a statement saying that he had suspended his writing and television appearances, but hoped to return to them. He was admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, after feeling ill while he and his wife, Geraldine, were visiting their daughter in Massachusetts.

At the time, his assistant told the Sun-Times that he would undergo a biopsy in the next few days in an attempt to determine the severity of his condition.



Mr. Novak’s syndicated political column is one of the most influential and widely read in the country, he produces a subscription newsletter, the Evans-Novak Political Report, and he appeared regularly for two decades on CNN and, more recently, on the Fox News Channel. He had written his column since 1963, first with Rowland Evans, who retired in 1993 and died in 2001, and then alone.

In recent years, Mr. Novak was best known as the journalist who identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. A federal investigation into the source of that information followed, which led to the conviction I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, on obstruction and perjury charges. President Bush commuted Mr. Libby’s sentence.

On July 23, while driving in Washington, D.C., Mr. Novak struck an elderly pedestrian, and later said he did not realize the accident had happened. It is not clear whether the incident was connected to his brain tumor.