Richard Marcinko, founding commander of elite Navy SEAL force and bestselling author, dies at 81

Richard Marcinko, a self-styled “rogue warrior” who in 1980 became the first commander of Navy SEAL Team 6, an elite Special Operations force whose legend he fueled as the best-selling author of books drawn from his derring-do, died Dec. 25 at his home in Warrenton, Va. He was 81.

The cause was a heart attack, said his wife, Nancy Marcinko.