According to The Associated Press, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015, died Monday, her literary agent confirmed. She was 51.
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In a column titled "You May Want to Marry My Husband" published earlier this month in The New York Times, Rosenthal, known for her children's books and the memoir "Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal," wrote about how she hoped that her husband, Jason, will love again after her death. The essay quickly went viral online, with more than 4 1/2 million readers, the Times reported.
"I'm facing a deadline, in this case, a pressing one," Rosenthal wrote. "I need to say this (and say it right) while I have a) your attention, and b) a pulse."
She then described her husband of 26 years in a mock dating profile.
"I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony, but I'm going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of coexisting in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days," she wrote.
Rosenthal called Jason an "absolutely wonderful father" and a "dreamy, let's-go-for-it travel companion."
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She added: "Here is the kind of man Jason is: He showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers. This is a man who, because he is always up early, surprises me every Sunday morning by making some kind of oddball smiley face out of items near the coffeepot: a spoon, a mug, a banana.
"This is a man who emerges from the minimart or gas station and says, 'Give me your palm.' And, voila, a colorful gumball appears. (He knows I love all the flavors but white.)
"My guess is you know enough about him now. So let's swipe right."
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"I was with her as she labored through this process, and I can tell you that writing the story was no easy task," Jason told People magazine. "When I read her words for the first time, I was shocked at the beauty, slightly surprised at the incredible prose given her condition and, of course, emotionally ripped apart."
He said he doesn't have his wife's way with words, "but if I did, I can assure you that my tale would be about the most epic love story – ours," People reported.
That love was apparent on Valentine's Day, when Jason "hung music sheets with words to different love songs for Amy, with notes on each one," Rosenthal's literary agent, Amy Rennert, told the Chicago Sun-Times. It was the same day Rosenthal completed her column.
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