Author, professor John Bayley dies at 89; wrote memoir of life with wife Iris Murdoch

LONDON – Author John Bayley, known for his moving memoir of life with his late wife Iris Murdoch, has died of a heart ailment. He was 89.

His editor Robert Weil said Wednesday that Bayley died Jan. 12 at his home on the Canary Islands.

Weil called Bayley “one of the most special human beings I have worked with.”

Bayley’s “Elegy for Iris” chronicled his wife’s descent into Alzheimer’s Disease and was turned into an Oscar-winning movie starring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent.

Bayley was a professor of English literature at Oxford for many years who wrote many fiction and nonfiction books.

He was also noted for his literary criticism.