Stephen Covey, 7 Habits Author, Dead at 79

Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as well as three other books that have all sold more than a million copies, has died. He was 79. In a statement sent to employees of a Utah consulting firm Covey co-founded, his family said the writer and motivational speaker died at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, early today due to complications from a bicycle accident in April.

"In his final hours, he was surrounded by his loving wife and each one of his children and their spouses, just as he always wanted," the family said. Covey was hospitalized after being knocked unconscious in the bicycle accident on a steep road in the foothills of Provo, Utah. At the time, his publicist said doctors had not found any signs of long-term damage to his head, but Covey's daughter later said that her father had suffered some bleeding on his brain. (More Stephen Covey stories.)