Gore Vidal, one of the world's most prolific literary minds, has passed away at the age of 86 on July 31, 2012. Widely lauded for his works of fiction, essays, and plays, Vidal will be remembered for his extensive body of work, showcasing themes of power, religion, sexuality, history, and culture. Vidal was born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal Jr. in 1925 and grew up in Washington D.C. He served in World War II aboard the aircraft carrier USS Anzio and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in Los Angeles in 1943. He authored more than 25 novels, two memoirs, well as countless shorter works, including plays, screenplays, and teleplays. Vidal was known for his wit, charm, acerbic social criticism, and polemical views, which often courted controversy. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress from New York in 1960 and was the first openly gay American to do so. Above all, Vidal will be remembered as a pioneering literary thinker, whose work will endure the test of time.