MUMBAI: Erich Segal, who attained fame as writer of the novel and movie Love Story, expired of a heart attack, his daughter Francesca Segal declared. He was 72.

Francesca said yesterday that her father died on Sunday after suffering from Parkinson‘s disease for around 25 years. His funeral was held in London on Tuesday.

Segal‘s novel published in 1970, Love Story was a weeper that concerned a young couple who fall in love marry and discover that she is dying of cancer. The novel sold a million copies that guaranteed to make readers cry and critics scream.

The film version that starred Ryan O‘Neal and Ali MacGraw also had a lot many takers. Love Story bagged seven Oscar nominations--including one for Segal for writing the screenplay, as well as for best picture, best director and best actor and actress. It won one Oscar for best music.

Segal also wrote a sequel, Oliver‘s Story, published in 1977, and made it into a film with O‘Neal again in the lead male role.