Lacey Fosburgh | |
|---|---|
| Born | Manhattan, New York (1942-10-03)October 3, 1942 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 11, 1993(1993-01-11) (aged 50) San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, author |
| Notable work | Closing Time: The True Story of the "Goodbar" Murder (1977) |
| Spouse | |
Lacey Fosburgh (October 3, 1942 – January 11, 1993) was an American journalist, author, and academic best known for her controversial book,Closing Time: The True Story of the Goodbar Murder (1977).
Fosburgh was born inManhattan, New York, U.S., to the journalist Hugh Whitney Fosburgh, author ofView from the Air and other books, and his wife, Helen Edwards Fosburgh. She graduated from theBrearley School in Manhattan andSarah Lawrence College.
She began her writing career forThe New York Times, where she worked as a staff reporter from 1968 to 1973.[1] After leaving theTimes, Fosburgh continued to work as a freelance journalist for that publication and others, notably covering thePatty Hearst/Symbionese Liberation Army case from 1974 to 1976, and thePeoples Temple case in 1978. She was also one of the few people to interview reclusive authorJ. D. Salinger, in 1974. She taught journalism at theUniversity of California at Berkeley.
In 1977, Fosburgh—appropriating the title ofJudith Rossner's acclaimed best-selling novel,Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1975)--published her first book,Closing Time: The True Story of the "Goodbar" Murder, the story of the 1973 slaying of young schoolteacherRoseann Quinn, which Fosburgh had covered forThe New York Times. The book was selected by both theLiterary Guild andDoubleday Book Club, and received a 1978Edgar Award nomination for Best Fact Crime book. AlthoughTruman Capote remarked that the book proved Fosburgh "a skillful, selective reporter and also a literary artist",[1] her mixing of fact and fiction (in a technique she called "interpretive biography")[2] proved controversial. In 1980, Fosburgh admitted toThe New York Times that she had "created scenes or dialogue I think it reasonable and fair to assume could have taken place, perhaps even did."[3]
Her second book,Old Money (1983), was a novel that was understood to be largely autobiographical, about growing up in a wealthy, troubled family. Her third book wasIndia Gate (1991), a fictional family saga and mystery involving the children of Americanexpatriates in India.
Fosburgh was married to Marc Libarle from 1973 to 1975. In 1977, she married the activist and authorDavid Harris, and they had one child, Sophie.[1] Fosburgh died aged 50 on January 11, 1993, of breast cancer, at California Pacific Hospital inSan Francisco.[1]
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| People | |
