Sol Yurick, the author of the 1965 cult novel "The Warriors", passed away Saturday in Manhattan at the age of 87. According to the New York Times, Yurick's death was the result of complications from lung cancer.

Yurick was born in Manhattan into a working class family of politically active Jewish immigrants. He grew up poor in the Bronx, and attended the Bronx High School of Science before serving in the Army during World World II. He went on to receive a bachelor's degree in English from New York University and further received a master's in English from Brooklyn College. Yurick had worked as a social investigator with the welfare department shortly after graduating.

His first novel, "The Warriors", which combined a classical Greek story with gang wars in New York City, became an instant hit, which led to the production of a major motion film of the same name in 1979. The movie starred Michael Beck and James Remar.

In the prefix of the 2003 edition of "The Warriors," Yurick wrote: "As I told her the tale, I could sense that her excitement was growing; at last a hook for the intellectuals upon which to hang her review in The New Yorker. It was not only a glowing review, but she had also taken the trouble to read my book and mentioned it, glowingly."

Yurick is survived by his wife Adrienne, who he had been married to for 54 years, his daughter Susanna, and a grandson.