His wife, Sylvia Persico, says he died Saturday at a hospital in Albany after a long illness.
Persico published 12 books including biographies of Rockefeller, Colin Powell, Edward R Murrow, CIA director William Casey and President Franklin Roosevelt.
He was selected to write the words etched in granite at the National World War II Memorial: "Here we mark the price of freedom."
His book "Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial" was made into a miniseries on Turner Network Television.
Persico was a Navy veteran. He lived in the Albany suburb Guilderland. He will have a private burial service at the National Cemetery in Schuylerville.