Sam Francis, a paleoconservative columnist, UNC-Chapel Hill grad, former aide to Sen. John East, and staunch defender of the South, died Tuesday night.

In his last column, published Jan. 27, Mr. Francis criticized President Bush’s second inaugural address: “The president … confirmed once and for all that the neoconservatism to which he has delivered his administration and the country is fundamentally indistinguishable” from liberalism.