Lee Hadley, a long-time Iowa State English professor and an award-winning writer of young adult novels, died of cancer Tuesday.

Hadley, who was 60, was well known for her many young adult books, which she co-wrote with Annabelle Irwin under the name of Hadley Irwin.

“She was very easy to write with,” Irwin said. “We always said that Hadley Irwin was a better writer than either Lee Hadley or Ann Irwin.”

Irwin said their first book, The Lilith Summer, was published in 1979, but they started writing together in 1975.

Irwin said they worked together on rough drafts during the summer and revised during the school year. “She liked the process of writing, and I liked the revision process. She was really good with character and I was good with plot,” Irwin said.

Irwin said she just received the revisions for their latest book, Sarah-With-An-H, from the publisher. The book will probably published in the fall.

Hadley had been at ISU since 1969. Barbara Haas, a creative writing professor and colleague of Hadley’s, said Hadley had been at ISU longer than any other creative writing professor.

“She will be missed,” Haas said. “I hope we can carry on with the beauty of her spirit.”

“What stays with me about Lee is just her beautiful sense of humor. It was her sense of humor that carried me through a lot of situations. I’ll miss that,” Haas said.

Fern Kupfer, a friend of Hadley’s and fellow creative writing professor said Hadley was a “wonderful writer and a terrific teacher. She was one of those professors who was warm, caring and genuinely liked students.”

“She wrote young adult novels, and she really was a young adult herself,” Kupfer said. “She always said, ‘Take off the gray hair and underneath I’m a 12-year-old girl.'”

Kupfer said the English department is planning a memorial service for Hadley.