Longtime Tribune columnist dies

Longtime Chicago Tribune columnist Terry Armour died unexpectedly Friday, the newspaper reported on its Web site. He was 46.

Armour was taken to a hospital in Chicago where he died after becoming ill on Friday afternoon, the newspaper said.

Armour joined the Chicago Tribune in 1980 as a copy clerk. He covered the Chicago Bulls for the paper from 1991 to 1993 before becoming an entertainment columnist, according to a biography on the Tribune's Web site.

Armour also was a sportswriter at the Tribune Co.-owned Daily Press in Newport News, Va., from 1988 to 1991.

"Terry made it look easy because he loved his work, but all of us who knew him realized that he worked hard for that success," Randall Weissman, a Tribune deputy managing editor, said in an e-mail to staff members.

"In addition to his professionalism, Terry brought laughter and an infectious enthusiasm to the newsroom. His loss will be felt deeply by all of us."

Armour also had been a host of a midday radio show on the former WCKG-FM. He was born in Chicago on Sept. 22, 1961.