Oliver Sacks, CBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire), bestselling author of "Awakenings" and American-British neurologist, died Sunday at age 82, following a terminal liver cancer diagnosis. Sacks died at home in New York City, his longtime personal assistant Kate Edgar confirmed to the New York Times.
Sacks penned an essay for the Times in February announcing his terminal diagnosis. "... I learned that I have multiple metastases in the liver. Nine years ago it was discovered that I had a rare tumor of the eye, an ocular melanoma. Although the radiation and lasering to remove the tumor ultimately left me blind in that eye, only in very rare cases do such tumors metastasize. I am among the unlucky 2 percent," he wrote.
Sacks' most well-known work is "Awakenings," the autobiographical book written in 1973 that was turned into a 1990 Oscar-nominated film starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. "Awakenings" was also the basis for the first documentary made for the British Broadcast Company in 1974 and a play by Harold Pinta by the same name.
During the course of his life, Sacks published a total of 13 books - five of which were published between ages 65 and 81. His memoir, "On the Move," was released on April 28.
Never having been married, Sacks once described his shyness as "a disease." He leaves behind no children and is survived by his partner of eight years, writer Bill Hayes, according to the Times.
To learn more about the full life Sacks left behind, CLICK HERE.
