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Dorothea Benton Frank, Lowcountry novelist passes after brief illness

New York Times best-selling author set stories in South Carolina
Credit: Harper Collins

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Popular novelist Dorothea Benton Frank died Monday after a brief illness.

Her death was announced on her Facebook page.

Frank had been battling with myelodysplastic syndrome, a cancer similar to leukemia, according to reports.

Born in Charleston, SC, Frank split her time between homes in Montclair, NJ, and Sullivans Island.

She based her stories about love and family in the Lowcountry and her novels were popular beach reads. Her first novel, Sullivans Island, published in 2000, debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list at number nine and her subsequent works were all NY Times bestsellers.

According to her biography page at dotfrank.com, Frank received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the College of Charleston, a Doctorate of Fine Arts from Bloomfield College (New Jersey), and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Charleston School of Law.

Frank was inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2015.

Dorothea Benton Frank leaves behind her husband, Peter Richard Frank, and two children, Victoria and William, a love of cooking and fly fishing, and 20 novels.

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