Theodore Sorensen, Top JFK Aide, Dies at 82 in NY

NEW YORK — Theodore C. Sorensen, the studious, star-struck aide and alter ego to President John F. Kennedy whose crisp, poetic turns of phrase helped idealize and immortalize a tragically brief administration, has died. He was 82.

Wife Gillian Sorensen says he died noon Sunday at a New York hospital from complications of a stroke.

Sorensen had been in poor health in recent years and a stroke in 2001 left him with such poor eyesight that he was unable to write his memoir, "Counselor," published in 2008. Instead, he had to dictate it to an assistant.