Prolific, opinionated and controversial writer and debater, Gore Vidal, has died. Today’s PR industry professionals, who tout the importance of creating a sleek personal brand and magnetic public identity, should embrace the one strategy that guided Mr. Vidal’s lifestyle: be yourself.

Intelligent, gruff and unapologetic creates better public relations than being insincere, disingenuous or pretending to be something you are not. Perhaps that is the legacy Mr. Vidal, who claimed to be the last of a unique generation of Americans, wanted us to take from his colorful life. Talented and witty, Mr. Vidal has much to offer today’s media stars who have parlayed PR campaigns into reality TV shows, perfumes and other vapid ventures that will only leave behind a legacy of hollow purchases and pointless conversations.

RIP Gore Vidal.