E. Lynn Harris Dies At The Age of 54yrs. old!

Best-selling author E. Lynn Harris, who debuted with the self-published hit novel “Invisible Life” in 1991 and was beloved by millions of readers, died today at age 54.

His publicist, Laura Gilmore, told the Associated Press he passed away Thursday night after being stricken while at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. A cause of death has not been determined.

An official for the coroner’s office in Los Angeles confirmed that a man matching Harris’ name and date of birth had died Thursday night at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center.

Harris suffered a “serious health setback” while on a West Coast book tour for his eleventh tome, “Basketball Jones,” according to the Arkansas Times.

The author’s sudden and untimely death quickly became the most-searched term on Google this afternoon.

Harris, an openly-gay writer who spent a decade as a closeted IBM executive, specialized in stories following attractive young African-American men who were in the closet or keeping their sexuality on the “down-low” in novels including “Just As I Am,” “If This World Were Mine” and “Any Way The Wind Blows.”

His 2003 memoir, “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted,” was also a New York Times best-seller, and there are more than four million copies of his books in print.

Born Everette Lynn Harris in Flint, Michigan, the soft-spoken Southerner grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas dreaming of becoming an author.

Success didn’t come easily. His memoir recounted his troubled childhood, which included abuse by his stepfather and a suicide attempt in 1990 when his own “down-low” lifestyle led him into a deep depression.

There must be a serious epidemic going around. So many people dying in such a short period of time. Especially African American man dying in their 50’s & 60’s.