I just heard and checked it out on the recently edited wikipedia page (kinda morbid no?)
He died aged 69. He said he had an inoperable abdominal aortic aneurysm.
A lot of people are very shocked. I never met the guy but I read a few of his books and despite him being the butt of many jokes, he seemed ernest enough and took it all in good humour.
RIP
John C Welch adds an obit. I didn’t even know he was a gamer. Cool.