Molly Ivins Dies of Cancer at 62

In this Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005 file photo released by International Women's Media Foundation, syndicated American columnist Molly Ivins holds the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005 she received from the International Womens Media Foundation, in New York. Best-selling author and columnist Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File) (Henny Ray Abrams - AP)

But Ivins' use of salty language and her habit of going barefoot in the office were too much for the Times, said longtime friend Ben Sargent, editorial cartoonist with the Austin American-Statesman.

"She was just like a force of nature," Sargent said. "She was just always on and sharp and witty and funny and was one of a kind."

Ivins returned to Texas as a columnist for the Dallas Times-Herald in 1982, and after it closed she spent nine years with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In 2001, she went independent and wrote her column for Creators Syndicate.

"She was magical in her writing," said Mike Blackman, a former Star-Telegram executive editor who hired Ivins in 1992. "She could turn a phrase in such a way that a pretty hard-hitting point didn't hurt so bad."

In 1995, conservative humorist Florence King accused Ivins in "American Enterprise" magazine of plagiarism for failing to properly credit King for several passages in a 1988 article in "Mother Jones." Ivins apologized, saying the omissions were unintentional and pointing out that she credited King elsewhere in the piece.

She was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, and she had a recurrence in 2003. Her latest diagnosis came around Thanksgiving 2005.

___

Associated Press writers April Castro in Austin and Matt Curry and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.