Stephen Covey Dies in Hospital at 79

Stephen R. Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” died in Idaho three months after a serious bicycle accident in Utah.

Ryan Cameron of Covey’s consulting firm, Franklin Covey, said the author died at 2:15 a.m. Monday at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho amid complications from the accident.  He was 79.

In addition to writing three other books that sold more than a million copies each, Covey was Utah State University’s first Jon M. Huntsman presidential chair in leadership.

Dean Douglas Anderson, of the Jon m. Huntsman college of business, said Covey left a legacy, not only of ideas but of behavior.

The bicycle accident happened April 19 on a steep road in the foothills of Provo, Utah, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City.  Covey was unconscious and taken to a hospital, where doctors found some signs of bleeding.