(CNN) William Helmreich, a prominent sociologist perhaps best known for walking every block of New York City, died Saturday morning of coronavirus, his family said.

He was 74.

Helmreich wrote nearly 20 books, including "The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City," which chronicled his walks through New York City talking to and learning about its residents.

Born in Switzerland to Holocaust survivors, Helmreich immigrated to New York City as an infant, eventually becoming a sociology professor at the City College of New York.

"Professor Helmreich was a true City College institution, a man with a restless curiosity about the people around him, a ceaseless investigator and an avid storyteller," CCNY President Vincent Boudreau said in a statement to CNN.

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