Editing Luke Rhinehart (section)

==Biography ==
===Early life===
George Powers Cockcroft was born on November 15, 1932, in [[Albany, New York]], to Donald and Elizabeth Cockcroft, both college graduates, his mother from [[Wellesley College]].<ref name=guardian1/> He was raised in Albany, where his father was an electrical engineer,<ref name=guardian1/> and his ancestry included Vermont political notables.<ref>As Tanya Gold noted for an interview piece in ''[[The Guardian]]'', "the creator of The Dice Man was born to New England grandees"; a [[great-grandfather]] and a grandfather were [[Vermont]]'s [[Governor]] and [[Chief Justice]] of its [[Vermont Supreme Court|Supreme Court]], respectively, in their time. See Gold, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 4 March 2017, op. cit.</ref> He attended [[The Albany Academy]], graduating in 1950, and received a BA from [[Cornell University]] in 1954 and an MA from [[Columbia University]] in 1956. In 1964, he received a PhD in American literature from Columbia. After obtaining his PhD, he went into teaching. During his years as a university professor he taught, among other things, courses in [[Zen]] and [[Western literature]].

In 1969, while Cockcroft was teaching a study abroad program on the island of [[Mallorca]], an Englishman starting a new publishing house stopped at a cafe in the same village, [[Deià]], and was given a partial manuscript of ''The Dice Man'' to read by Cockcroft. Cockcroft was subsequently offered an advance payment for publication. Shortly afterwards, Cockcroft was encouraged by his course Director to take an early sabbatical from his teaching duties. He remained in Mallorca to complete the novel, after which the publisher sold the American rights to the novel for a large sum, and within a year the film rights, allowing Cockcroft to retire from teaching and become a full time novelist.

===Personal life and family===
Cockcroft married his wife, Ann, who later became a writer of two romance novels and a volume of poetry, in June 1956. Together they have three children.<ref name=guardian1/> 

The author and his family spent a number of years traveling, sailing, and returning to Mallorca, living in Deià in the late 1960s and early 70s,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.charlesmarlow.com/blog/2017/01/20/luke-rhineharts-invasion/ |title=Luke Rhinehart's Invasion: Keeping you warm in these chilly times |website=www.charlesmarlow.com |date= 20 January 2017|access-date=2020-12-20}}</ref> including time spent on a large [[catamaran]], which became the inspiration for the boat in his novel ''[[Long Voyage Back]]''. In the mid-1970s they returned to the United States. They spent 1975 in a [[sufi]] [[Intentional community|commune]], before moving to a large old [[farmhouse]] and former religious retreat in the foothills of the Berkshires in [[upstate New York]].

===Later life and death===
{{Blockquote
|text=I am old now. Illusions are losing their grip. They are dropping off me like leaves from an autumn tree. How nice.
|author=Luke Rhinehart.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://documentally.substack.com/p/safe-passage-248|title=Safe Passage [248]|website=documentally.substack.com|date=20 November 2020 }}</ref>
}}
On 1 August 2012, the "death" of Rhinehart at the age of 79 was announced by email to 25 friends, beginning with the words "It is our pleasure to inform you that Luke Rhinehart is dead"; it was later revealed the "Death Letter" was instigated as a playful hoax by Cockcroft. Reactions ranged from sorrow to gratitude and amusement.<ref name=independent1>{{cite journal | author = Boggan, Steve| date = 12 January 2013 | title = In Search of The Dice Man: An Extraordinary Journey to Track Down a Cult Author | journal = [[The Independent]] | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/in-search-of-the-dice-man-an-extraordinary-journey-to-track-down-a-cult-author-8444763.html | access-date = 12 November 2019}}</ref>

In 2018, Rhinehart expressed a wish to be [[cremation|cremated after his death]] if he could not be [[natural burial#Burial at sea|naturally buried]] legally in the one-acre lake upon his property.<ref>{{Cite web | title=x.com | url=https://twitter.com/Documentally/status/1012831872999665664 | access-date=2025-02-22 | website=twitter.com}}</ref>

George Cockroft died, aged 87, on 6 November 2020.<ref name="MyUser_The_Guardian_March_1_2021c">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/18/the-dice-man-author-george-cockcroft-luke-rhinehart-dies-aged-87 |title=The Dice Man author George Cockcroft (aka Luke Rhinehart) dies aged 87 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=  18 November 2020|author=Alison Flood |access-date= March 1, 2021}}</ref>