Former Penn State professor and famed author Thomas Rogers died yesterday after going into cardiac arrest.

Rogers, 79, was driving in College Township early yesterday morning when his car went off the road and struck a street sign at the intersection of Puddintown Road and Orchard Road, according to a State College police press release. He was found to be in cardiac arrest and was transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the release.

Neighbors and friends said Rogers' death was unexpected. Clare Hinrichs, Rogers' neighbor and a Penn State professor of rural sociology, said she last spoke to Rogers at about 5 p.m. Saturday while walking her dog. She said he was working in his garden at the time and "did not show any outward signs" of trouble.

Rogers earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a graduate degree from the University of Iowa. After moving to State College in 1961, he taught creative writing at Penn State for 30 years, according to the liberal arts department Web site. He retired in 1991 but continued to mentor faculty members and former students, according to the site.

"He was a great presence in the English department," said John Moore, associate professor emeritus of English and comparative literature.

Moore said Rogers had a "marvelous" sense of humor.

"He sort of lit up every room he entered," he said. "You knew he was going to say clever things."

Rogers also wrote four novels. His first, The Pursuit of Happiness (1968) was made into a movie starring Barbara Hershey and Michael Sarrazin. His second, The Confession of a Child of the Century (1972) received the Rosenthal Prize given by the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

He published his third novel, At the Shores, in 1980. His forth novel, Jerry Engels, was published in 2002 to favorable reviews.

In his later years, Rogers continued to be an active reader, writer and gardener. He was an active member of the State College Literary Club and he helped young fiction writers and young faculty with their work, said John Buck, a retired assistant professor of English who knew Rogers for more than 30 years.

Neighbors and colleagues also remembered Rogers' and his wife's hospitality.

"Tom Rogers was the heart of creative gentility here," Buck said. "To go to a social occasion with them, a party or a dinner, was to ascend into a world of great happy elegance."

Rogers, who lived on East Foster Avenue, leaves behind two daughters, Rebecca, who lives in France, and Susan Fox-Rogers, a professor at Bard College in New York, Hinrichs said. Hinrichs said Rogers' wife, Jacqueline, died in late summer 2005.

Rogers and his wife made a beautiful pair, Buck said. Rogers, a Chicago native, stood at least 6 feet 4 inches tall, he said. His wife was French and barely five feet.

Buck said losing Rogers was more painful than losing his father.

"He's a great, great man," Buck said. "I think there are no such people left."