Karen Blumenthal. Photo by Robin Sachs Photography.

Karen Blumenthal, award-winning author of young adult nonfiction and journalist who worked as the business editor at the Dallas Morning News, died Monday after a heart attack.

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The Lake Highlands resident wrote about topics such as Bonnie and Clyde, Roe v. Wade, Hilary Rodham Clinton and Steve Jobs.

Blumenthal began writing young adult nonfiction after she couldn’t find books she liked for her daughters, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Blumenthal attended Hillcrest High School where she graduated as valedictorian in 1977. She graduated from Duke University with her bachelor’s and Southern Methodist University with her MBA. Her impressive and lengthy career included business editor for the Dallas Morning News, editor and reporter for the Wall Street Journal, business columnist at Texas Monthly magazine and adjunct professor at Texas Christian University.

In addition, she was a member of the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, where she advocated for Dallas libraries. She often held public discussions for her books, including her most recent novel, “Jane Against the World.”

She married her college sweetheart, Scott McCartney, and they raised their two daughters, Jen and Abby McCartney, in Lake Highlands.

“The best part about public service is connecting with genuine, passionate people who love, serve and advocate for what they believe and what benefits others. It has been a blessing in my life to work alongside this fierce advocate and loving warrior,” District 10 Councilman Adam McGough wrote in a Facebook post. “Karen Blumenthal has done more for Libraries in D10 than anyone else. Our world and the lives of so many people of all ages have been touched by her advocacy and her writing.”

Photos courtesy of Adam McGough.

Photos courtesy of Adam McGough.