Robert Maynard Pirsig was born on September 6, 1928, and died on April 24, 2017.

He was an American writer and philosopher, and the author of the philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991).

He was married Nancy Ann James, together they had two sons.

He had suffered a nervous breakdown and spent time in and out of psychiatric hospitals between 1961 and 1963.

Robert M. Pirsig was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression as a result of an evaluation conducted by psychoanalysts and was treated with electroconvulsive therapy on numerous occasion.

He died in South Berwick, Maine, after a period of failing health.

Robert M. Pirsig passed away at 88 years old.