ANDREW COBURN Obituary

Name: Calling hours for ANDREW COBURN
Start: 2018-08-14T19:00:00.000Z
End: 2018-08-14T22:00:00.000Z
Location: John Breen Memorial Funeral Home, Inc. - North Andover

COBURN, Andrew of Andover died August 7 at the V.A. Hospital in Bedford, Mass. He was born May 1, 1932 in Exeter, NH, the son of Andrew and Georgiana Coburn. A 1950 graduate of Haverhill High School, he joined the Army and later attended Suffolk University. Andrew received an honorary doctorate from Merrimack College in 1987. Following military service, Andrew joined the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune which launched his career as an award-winning reporter and editor. He later, with associates, published his own local newspapers. Andrew was a New York Times best-selling author, publishing his first novel, "The Trespassers," in 1974. He was the author of 13 novels, a novella, a collection of short fiction and numerous short stories. His novels have been translated into more than 14 languages; three of which have been made into French films. Among his awards are the Eugene Saxton Memorial Fellowship, AP and UPI awards, and a nomination for the prestigious Edgar Award for crime fiction. Throughout his career, Andrew's work was recognized as "pitch-perfect," "incisive," "gripping," and "chillingly elegant." John Daley of Newsday said of Andrew, "Great mystery writers are rare but Coburn certainly rank[s] among them." Fellow author Ed Gorman said "He is a major American writer whose talents as both a stylist and social observer are of the first rank." The London Sunday Times noted he was "as good on sad women as bad men, his prose so flexed and edged as to make paranoia fashionable." The UMass Amherst Special Collections is the custodian of Andrew's collected papers. Andrew was pre-deceased by his beloved daughter, Heather, and is survived by his wife, Bernadine ("Bunny") Casey Coburn; his children Kevin (Blanche Murray), Cathleen (Michael Caruso), Krista (Daniel Earley), Lisa (William Brennan), eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, his sister Julie Masera (companion Gerald Assad), half-sister Andrea (Robert Tillson), and many cherished nieces and nephews. The family would like to thank the entire staff at the Denali unit of the Bedford V.A. for their compassionate and loving care. Visiting Hours: Family and friends may call on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 from 3:00PM to 6:00PM. A service will be followed at 6:00PM John Breen Memorial Funeral Home Inc., 35 Merrimack St., North Andover, MA 01845 www.breenfuneralhome.com

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Published by Boston Globe from Aug. 11 to Aug. 12, 2018.

Memories and Condolences
for ANDREW COBURN

4 Entries

Gene Ferraro

August 5, 2020

I met Andy Coburn the day the Challenger exploded. Over the years after we would get together from time to time and I would attend his readings every time he published a new book. He was a terrific writer, having developed his skills working a police reporter in Lawrence. He wrote at night and never, he would emphasize, rewrote. The French loved his work, and movies were made in France from two of his novels. He was quite prolific and, although sometimes characterized as a crime writer, he was in many ways a sharp observer of the nastiness in the human condition, especially among the affluent. He had a way with a detail. One little thing could define a character - for example, the way the female villain smoked in "The Babysitter". He once described that to me as the key to defining her persona instantly. I still have inscribed copies of most of his books and he remains vivid, smiling and holding a cigarette in my memories. Most importantly, he was pretty nice guy, from whom anyone who paid attention could learn a hell of lot about writing and other things.

Gene Ferraro

August 16, 2018

Andrew Coburn was an very perceptive writer and a great person to talk with. We met the day the Challenger exploded and saw each other off and on at his book signing and other visits. His characters stay in the mind and he could etch a searing emotion in a single sentence. His books were all excellent reads and he had especially artful grasp of the women he created in his books. To have a conversation with him was to learn a lot about writing and life
Gene Ferraro, Andover, MA