Award winning Australian biographer, Hazel Rowley dies in the United States due to heart failure. She was 59. Rowley has been on life support following a series of strokes and heart attacks late last week, before she succumbed to her death at a New York hospital.

According to The Australian, Rowley’s brother and sister flew to New York to be at her bedside and they were the last members of the family whom Rowley had seen before she closed her eyes at the end.

A great loss among the literary and publishing community, The Australian underscored that Rowley rose to fame shaping the lives of others when she wrote about them in her works.

Rowley’s 1993 work on the biography of Sydney-born novelist Christina Stead had served as her gateway to the literary world. And she has since written other notable works including ‘well-received’ biography of African-American writer, Richard Wright in 2001 and her book detailing the lives of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvior, in Tete-a-Tete: The Tumultous Lives & Loves of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.

The Australian noted that Rowley’s most recent work is the biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, in Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, adding that it was published last month in the United States and the Australia. The book has received great reviews in both countries.

“I loved her as a friend and colleague. Her generosity of spirit, courage and independent thinking shaped her writing and her personal life. Her passing is a great loss to Australia’s literary community,” Melbourne University Publishing chief executive, Louise Adler said in a tribute to Rowley.

Rowley is survived by her mother, Betty and her siblings who were with her at New York hospital. She never married and with no children. No details on the funeral services were released by the members of the family.

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