New Mexico author Tony Hillerman, who rose to fame with his Navajo Country-based mystery novels, died Sunday from a long illness.

His daughter, Anne Hillerman of Santa Fe, said the 83-year-old died of pulmonary failure at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque after several days under intensive care. "He had been on sort of a long, slow decline," she said. "But if it's your dad, you never really expect it. You always think he's going to be around."

Hillerman started his writing career as a journalist and moved to Santa Fe in 1954 to work as a reporter for United Press International. He later became editor of The New Mexican and won numerous awards for his news stories and editorials. He left the newspaper business in the 1960s to join the staff at The University of New Mexico, where he earned a master's degree in English and taught journalism.

In 1970, Hillerman published The Blessing Way, the first of 17 novels that tracked tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jimmy Chee through the wide-open Navajo landscape. The series was among more than 30 books he wrote. Actor and producer Robert Redford turned three of the mysteries into movies that were shown on PBS.

Leaphorn, introduced in the first book, was an experienced police officer who understood, but did not share, his people's traditional belief in a rich spirit world. Chee, introduced in People of Darkness in 1978, was a younger officer studying to become a hathaali — Navajo for shaman. Together, they struggled daily to bridge the cultural divide between the dominant Anglo society and the impoverished people who call themselves the Diné.

Hillerman's commercial breakthrough was Skinwalkers, published in 1987 — the first time he put both characters in the same book. It sold 430,000 hardcover copies. The series ended with The Shape Shifter, published two years ago.

Hillerman survived two heart attacks and surgeries for prostate and bladder cancer. He kept typing even as his eyes weakened and rheumatoid arthritis clenched up his hands.

"I'm getting old," he declared in 2002, "but I still like to write."

"He was just a natural storyteller," Anne Hillerman said.

"He had such a wonderful, wonderful curiosity about the world," she said. "He could take little details and bring them to life, not just in his books, but in conversation, too."

To get inspiration, Anne Hillerman wrote, her father and mother, Marie, would drive west to Navajo Country, where he "enjoyed watching the thunderstorms build over the vast and magnificent landscape."

Hillerman was born in 1925 in Sacred Heart, Okla., and credited his education at a Roman Catholic mission school primarily for Native American girls "as a lesson in understanding" because he was a "double minority."

Longtime friend Lew Thompson was among the first to recognize Hillerman's talents. Both attended the University of Oklahoma, and Hillerman succeeded Thompson as editor of the school's humor newspaper. "I knew Tony was a winner all the way," he said. "I had a (limited) budget, and he was one of the writers I recruited because he was one hell of a storyteller."

Hillerman worked at newspapers in Oklahoma and Texas before coming to Santa Fe, where Thompson later joined him.

"I went into the advertising business and worked for The New Mexican," Thompson said. "Tony's the one who got me into Santa Fe. He'd say, 'Come on, let's get smart. Join me in paradise,' and I did."

Throughout the years, the two friends trekked to Las Vegas, Nev., dozens of times to play poker, most recently a couple years ago. Thompson said he went to win, while Hillerman, trying to break from some of the reclusiveness that writing brings, enjoyed socializing. "I went there to enjoy the discipline of poker; it's a quiet game and it's a an absorbing thing, and if you play it well, you win some money," Thompson said. "He went there to be with people and have fun. ... He played well, but I could never get him away from the table a winner."

Thompson looked on fondly as his friend made the transition from journalism to academia to literature. He raved about Hillerman's The Great Taos Robbery, a series of short nonfiction pieces his daughter said became his master's thesis, and a children's story called The Boy Who Made Dragonfly: A Zuni Myth, about a Hopi brother and sister who were abandoned during a heavy snowstorm.

"Tony never had any idea he was going to make a lot of money," Thompson said. "He just knew he loved storytelling, and the money rolled in because he was good at it."

Hillerman also had a rapt audience in his children. "He was a wonderful bedtime storyteller for me and my brothers and sisters," Anne Hillerman said. "They were just these improved stories from whatever the day had brought."

But her father spoke little of his time in the Army during World War II, where he earned the Silver and Bronze stars and the Purple Heart. She learned more about those experiences from reading his 2001 memoir Seldom Disappointed. "He was just like a lot of people in his generation — he was getting on with his life," she said. "He lived very much in the present."

Hillerman was not working on another novel when he died but was helping Anne Hillerman with a photography book showing the scenery and locations of his Leaphorn/Chee books. The book is due out in about 18 months.

Hillerman is survived by his wife of 60 years, Marie, and their six children, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Service arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages friends to make donations to Catholic Charities in Albuquerque, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School, which serves Diné in Thoreau, N.M., or to the charity of their choice.

The Associated Press contributed material to this report.

Contact Doug Mattson at 986-3087 or dmattson@sfnewmexican.com.