Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal Dies After Writing Dating Profile Essay About Her Husband

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the children’s book author whose emotional “Modern Love” column about her husband recently went viral, died of cancer on Monday, her literary agent confirmed to TIME.

Rosenthal’s recent New York Times column, titled “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” explained her ovarian cancer diagnosis and served as both a love letter and dating profile for her husband of 26 years.

“I want more time with Jason. I want more time with my children. I want more time sipping martinis at the Green Mill Jazz Club on Thursday nights. But that is not going to happen,” Rosenthal, 51, wrote in the column, which was published March 3.

“I probably have only a few days left being a person on this planet. So why I am doing this? I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.”

Rosenthal was the author of 28 children’s books and a 2016 memoir, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal.