Updike 'dedicated his life to writing'

For readers of a certain generation, it's hard to imagine that they will have to grow old without John Updike.

"He's certainly been on the screen of my life since I was a teenager," says fellow author Richard Ford, 64, after learning of the death on Tuesday of the 76-year-old Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-novelist and man of letters who had been ill with lung cancer.

"He's a person who dedicated his life to writing, who wasn't a teacher, and, most importantly, wrote very serious books that a lot of people read," Ford said.