J.R.R. Tolkien was 81 years old when he died in 1973.
He was born on 3 January 1892 and died on 2 September 1973, so he had passed his eighty-first birthday earlier that year. He died in Bournemouth, England, after a period of declining health.
By the time of his death, Tolkien had become internationally known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. His major works had also established a lasting influence on modern fantasy literature, language invention, illustration, games, film, and popular culture.
Age calculations can be confused when only the years are subtracted: 1973 minus 1892 equals 81, and Tolkien’s birthday had already occurred before his death. This is why the answer is 81 rather than 80.