Author Ira Levin died of a heart attack in his New York City apartment on 12 November 2007, according to his agent, Phyllis Westberg. He was born in New York on 27 August 1929, and knew from his teenage years that he wanted to be a writer. His first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel of 1953. It, and most of his other novels, were later turned into films (some of them more than once). His books include Rosemary’s Baby (1967), This Perfect Day, which won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in1992 (1970), The Stepford Wives (1972), The Boys from Brazil (1976), Sliver (1991), and Son of Rosemary (1997).
He also wrote a musical and several plays, including Deathtrap, the longest running thriller in Broadway history (which won the Edgar for Best Play in 1980). Levin was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2003.
He is survived by three sons and three grandsons.