LOS ANGELES - A coroner’s official says heart disease, complicated by high blood pressure and a hardening of the arteries, is what killed author E. Lynn Harris last week.

County coroner Craig Harvey said Wednesday that the 54-year-old died of natural causes. Harris died July 23 while visiting Los Angeles to promote his latest book.

Harris, a pioneer of gay black fiction, enjoyed unprecedented success in the genre. He was born in Flint, Mich., and raised in Little Rock, Ark. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school’s first black m...

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