Olivia Goldsmith: 'First Wives Club' author dies after plastic surgery
Ms. Goldsmith had been in a coma since Jan. 7 after complications resulting from anesthesia during plastic surgery, according to her lawyer, Steven Mintz. She died at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on Thursday, he said.
Ms. Goldsmith was a management consultant who became one of the first women to be a partner at the firm Booz Allen Hamilton before she began writing her distinctive edgy, humorous fiction.
Her debut novel, in 1992, was "First Wives Club," the tale of three women whose husbands leave them for younger partners. The movie of the same name came out in 1996.
Ms. Goldsmith was divorced but maintained friendly relations with her ex-husband, and the antics of "The First Wives Club" were not based especially on her experience, her literary agent, Nicholas Ellison, said.
Among her other novels were "The Bestseller," "Flavor of the Month," "Young Wives," and "Switcheroo."
She had two new books, a satire called "Dumping Billy" and a love story called "Casting On," coming out this year.
"She wrote these wonderful, celebratory satires, which seamlessly wove her moral convictions and instruction into these popular entertainments," Ellison told The New York Times.
She was born Randy Goldfield in New York City. She changed her legal name to Justine Rendal and wrote under the pen name of Olivia Goldsmith. She grew up in Dumont, N.J. and attended New York University.
She is survived by her mother, and two sisters, Kate Goldfield and Barbara Turner.
Reuters contributed to this report.