Chairman of the Jerusalem Book Fair Zev Birger died Monday morning after being struck by a motorcycle while crossing the street in Jersualem on Saturday, May 28. His funeral will take place Tuesday.
Mystery author Lilian Jackson Braun, 97, died Saturday in a hospice facility. Her longtime editor Natalee Rosenstein at Berkley comments: “She ultimately created a whole new chapter in the American Mystery, and our wonderful working relationship spanned more than two decades. But most of all, it is Lilian the person I will remember–a strong, dedicated, feisty woman who would always speak her mind and not be intimidated by anyone. She will be deeply missed by all of us at Putnam and Berkley, as well as her millions of fans around the world.”
Her husband said her one regret was that she was unable to complete her final novel, THE CAT WHO SMELLED SMOKE. It would have been the thirtieth novel in the bestselling series. Rosenstein tells us she “was not able to get very far [on the manuscript] before she became too ill. There are no plans at this time to have anyone else complete it.”
Obit
Harry Bernstein, whose 2007 memoir THE INVISIBLE WALL earned him literary accolades as a nonagenarian, died on June 3 in Brooklyn at the age of 101.
NYT obit
Longtime general counsel of Random House, Inc. until 2002, Harriette K. Dorsen, 68, died on June 5 in Salisbury, CT with her family at her side. Contributions in her name may be made to the Women’s Cancer Center at NYU Cancer Institute, 160 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016. A memorial in Cornwall will be announced later.
Correcting our note last week about the passing of author Wayne Greenhaw, he died May 31 at the age of 71, and his most recent book was published by Lawrence Hill Books, not River City Books as we originally reported.