Author and journalist Paul Gruchow died on Sunday at his home in Duluth. Gruchow was 56 years old.Gruchow celebrated the prairie in much of his writing, including his nationally acclaimed book "The Necessity of Empty Places."Gruchow died from a drug overdose. He had been hospitalized several times in recent years in a battle with depression. His family said he had attempted suicide four times since August 2001. He had recently completed a first draft of a book about depression. Gruchow was born in Montevideo. He edited the Minnesota Daily newspaper at the University of Minnesota and worked as an aide to Congressman Don Fraser in Washington in 1969 before moving to St. Paul as news and public affairs director for Minnesota Public Radio. He then moved to southwestern Minnesota in 1976, where he worked for the Worthington Daily Globe and wrote his first book, "Journal of a Prairie Year." Jim Brandenburg is a photographer who worked with Gruchow at the Worthington newspaper and later collaborated with him on several books. He says he was inspired by his friend and co-worker.