Susan Bergman, 48, AIDS Memoirist
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Author Susan Bergman, whose 1994 book “Anonymity” dealt with her father’s death from AIDS and her family’s traumatic discovery of his long-hidden homosexuality, died of brain cancer Sunday at her home in Barrington, Ill. She was 48.
“Anonymity,” which she began as her doctoral dissertation, reflects on her past after learning in 1983 that her dying father, Don Heche, had a secret life as a gay man.
Besides “Anonymity,” Bergman wrote the soon-to-be-published novel “Buried Life.” She was a teacher and lecturer in literature and writing at several venues, including Northwestern and New York Universities and the University of Notre Dame. She also was an editor and writer of literary books and a contributing editor for many magazines and literary publications.
The discovery led to self-examination by family members and she came to a new understanding of everyone in her family, she said. One of her sisters is the actress Anne Heche, who had a prominent lesbian relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres from 1997-2000.
