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Love Story author Eric Segal dies aged 72
Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:34pm EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Eric Segal, the American author of the top-selling romance Love Story, has died in London aged 72, a family friend told Reuters.

The writer, born in New York, was buried at a Jewish cemetery in north London on Tuesday.

He died of a heart attack on Sunday, local media reported. He had suffered from Parkinson's Disease for many years.

Love Story, originally written as a screenplay when Segal was a classics professor at Yale University, became a best-seller around the world after its publication as a novel in 1970.



It was turned a Oscar-winning film, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal.

Segal, who also taught at Harvard and Princeton, was a screen writer on the Beatles' 1968 film Yellow Submarine.

He also wrote widely about ancient Greek and Latin literature.

He is survived by his wife Karen and his daughters Francesca and Miranda.

(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Jon Hemming)