Author began writing novels at age 37

Jon Hassler, 74, a Minnesota author who chronicled the foibles of small-town life in “Staggerford,” “Grand Opening” and other novels after starting his career in middle age, died Thursday at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minn. He had suffered for several years from progressive supranuclear palsy, similar to Parkinson’s disease.

Despite his deteriorating health, Hassler continued working, finishing the book “Jay O’Malley” a few weeks ago.

In a 1995 interview, Hassler told the Associated Press that he liked writing about misfits. “You can’t write a novel about somebody who’s perfectly happy,” he said.

Hassler was born in Minneapolis on March 30, 1933, and grew up in the small north-central Minnesota town of Staples, where his father owned a grocery store. He graduated from St. John’s University in Collegeville in 1955 before receiving a master’s from the University of North Dakota. He spent years teaching high school and college English before launching his writing career at 37.

He didn’t publish his first novel, “Staggerford,” a semi-autobiographical story about a high school teacher in a small town, until seven years later. Hassler’s other works include “Simon’s Night” (1979), “The Love Hunter” (1981), “A Green Journey” (1986), “North of Hope” (1990) and “Dear James” (1993).