US writer Robert Katz dies at 77

[October 22, 2010]  ROME (AP) -- American writer and historian Robert Katz, best known for his reconstruction of an infamous Nazi massacre in Rome, has died in Italy. He was 77.

Katz's wife Beverly Gerstel told the AP on Thursday that the author had died in the hospital in Tuscany from complications from cancer surgery the day before. Katz had been a longtime resident of Tuscany.

Katz wrote extensively on 20th-century Italian history. He adapted some of his books for cinema, including "The Cassandra Crossing," a feature film starring Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster and Richard Harris.

His works looked at some crucial events in modern Italian history, including the Nazi massacre of 335 Italians at the Ardeatine Caves in 1944.

Katz is survived by his wife and two children. The funeral will be private.

[Associated Press]

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