At the age of 95
US bestselling author Noah Gordon is dead
Noah Gordon at the world premiere of the movie “The Medicus” 2013 in Berlin. The author died at the age of 95. Photo: dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Noah Gordon was almost 60 when his most internationally famous book was published. “The Medicus” became a trilogy that captivated millions of people around the world. Now his fans mourn the US writer who died at the age of 95.
The US author Noah Gordon, who reached an audience of millions with novels like “The Medicus”, is dead.
This was confirmed on Tuesday by the publisher Penguin Random House, citing the literary agency Mohrbooks in Switzerland, which represented the writer. Gordon’s family wrote on Facebook that he died at home on Monday at the age of 95.
Only recently, the bestselling author celebrated his birthday with joy. He was grateful for the long and fruitful life that he had led. “Noah’s life and work have touched the lives of millions of readers around the world. His work lives on », it says in the post.
He worked as a reporter
Born on November 11, 1926 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Gordon had an early interest in literature. But the son of Jewish parents should study medicine in order to be financially secure. He spent a semester in college, then enrolled in journalism without telling his parents about it. His career as a reporter – he worked first for his home newspaper “The Worcester Telegram” and then as a science journalist for the “Boston Herald” – finally paved his way to becoming a writer.
The “medicus” made him world famous
Gordon’s first novel, The Rabbi (1965), stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 26 weeks. He achieved great international success with “Der Medicus”, which appeared in the summer of 1986 with the original title “The Physician”. In it, the orphan boy Rob Jeremy Cole set off from England to Isfahan in Persia in the 11th century to study medicine with the famous doctor Ibn Sina. In the end he returned to England with his wife as a recognized physician.
The sequels “The Shaman” (1992) and “The Heirs of the Medicus” (1995) followed. The film adaptation of «Medicus» directed by Philipp Stölzl, which was released in 2013, helped to make the books accessible to a young readership as well. Gordon last published the novel “The Catalan” in 2007, a homage to the history of Spanish viticulture in the 19th century.
Since then, the father of three grown children had become quieter. «Every morning I go to my computer and enjoy the e-mails that I receive from readers in many countries. I am grateful to every reader for making it possible for me to spend my life as a story writer », it says on his homepage.