TS Eliot’s widow dies, aged 86

Published on 12/11/2012 02:25

Valerie Eliot, the widow and literary executor of poet TS Eliot, has died at the age of 86.

The poet’s estate said she died on Friday at her London home after a short illness. Valerie Eliot was the second wife of the US-born Nobel literature laureate, whom she met at London publisher Faber & Faber. He was a director, she a secretary.

The couple wed in 1957. Friends said the marriage was a happy one despite the almost 40-year gap in their ages.

After Eliot’s death in 1965, Valerie became his devoted executor, editing his work for publication and refusing to co-operate with would-be biographers in keeping with the poet’s last wishes.