Alan Levy, at 72; American founded Prague newspaper

PRAGUE -- American journalist and author Alan Levy died Friday in Prague, according to the English-language newspaper where he was the founding editor in chief. He was 72.

Mr. Levy died after "a brief and courageous battle with cancer," The Prague Post said in a statement.

He was born in New York City in 1932. After studies at Brown University and Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree in journalism, he won The New Republic's 1957 Young Writer Award for his coverage of the Cuban revolution.

Mr. Levy spent seven years in Kentucky as a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal before freelancing in New York City for seven years.

He and his family moved to Prague in 1967, and he reported on the Russian-led invasion the following year. Mr. Levy captured the events of 1968 in a book called "Rowboat to Prague," published in 1972 and rereleased in 1980 as "So Many Heroes." His 1974 book "Good Men Still Live!" also deals with the Prague Spring and its aftermath.

Czech communist authorities expelled Mr. Levy from the country in 1971. He settled in Vienna, the capital of neighboring Austria, where he worked for publications that included the International Herald Tribune, Life, and New York Times Magazine.

After the peaceful revolution led by Vaclav Havel toppled communist rule, Mr. Levy returned to what was then Czechoslovakia in 1990 and helped establish The Prague Post as its editor in chief one year later.

Mr. Levy was working as an editor and columnist for the weekly until his death.

He leaves his wife, Valerie, and two daughters.