David Carr in 2008, the year he published his memoir, “The Night of the Gun,” a story of his battles with drugs in the 1980s.”
David Carr, a writer who wriggled away from the demon of drug addiction to become an unlikely name-brand media columnist at The New York Times, and the star of a documentary about the newspaper, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 58.
Mr. Carr collapsed in The Times newsroom, where he was found shortly before 9 p.m. He was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Earlier in the evening, he moderated a panel discussion about the film “Citizenfour” with its principal subject, Edward J. Snowden; the film’s director, Laura Poitras; and Glenn Greenwald, a journalist.
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Mr. Carr lived in Montclair, N.J. His survivors include his wife, Jill Rooney Carr, international operations manager for Shake Shack; his daughters, Maddie, Erin and Meagan; and several siblings, Jim, John Jr., Joe, Missy and Lisa.
“I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve,” Mr. Carr wrote at the conclusion of “The Night of the Gun,” “but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon.”
An earlier version of this obituary misstated the profession of Mr. Carr’s wife. She is international operations manager for Shake Shack; she is no longer an event planner.
A version of this article appears in print on February 13, 2015, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: David Carr, a Champion and Critic of the Media, Dies at 58. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
