Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Donald "D.L." Coburn died December 3, of colon cancer. His wife Marsha Coburn confirmed the news to the New York Times. He was 87 years old.

Mr. Coburn was a gleaming reminder that great artists can be discovered anywhere, and at any age. Initially pursuing a career in Dallas, Texas as an advertising and marketing consultant, his very first play, The Gin Game, catapulted him to international acclaim. Written as an intimate two-hander for the then-brand-new American Theater Arts in Hollywood, the piece grew a groundswell of support from audiences desperate for authentic stories about aging. Set in a nursing home, two elderly residents, Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey, take up a series of gin rummy games, competing to pass the time as they engage in lengthy conversations about their families, their lives, and the outside world.

At 39 years old, without another theatrical experience to his name, The Gin Game won Mr. Coburn the Pulitzer, with its inaugural Broadway bow (directed by Mike Nichols, with married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy starring) netting a nomination for Best Play. While none of Mr. Coburn's successive works would achieve the same acclaim, The Gin Game remains a treasured piece of the theatrical canon, particularly favored by elder actors looking for a challenge not frequently otherwise offered to them.

The Gin Game has been revived on Broadway twice: in 1997, directed by Charles Nelson Reilly and starring Julie Harris and Charles Durning; and in 2015, directed by Leonard Foglia and starring James Earl Jones and Cecily Tyson. The limited run marked the final stage performances of both Jones and Tyson. Two filmed productions have been produced: a 1981 television adaptation starring Cronyn and Tandy, and a 2003 PBS version starring Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.

Mr. Coburn is survived by his second wife, Marsha; two children from his first marriage to Nazlee Joyce French; and three grandsons.