Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, the novelist, journalist, and former partner of Doors frontman Jim Morrison, has died at 75, the Los Angeles Times reports. The cause of death was heart disease.

Kennealy-Morrison, a Brooklyn native, was known as a pioneer in the field of rock criticism; she served as editor-in-chief of Jazz and Pop magazine from 1968 to 1971. It was for the magazine that she interviewed Jim Morrison, with whom she soon embarked on a relationship. Their partnership would last until his death in 1971.

She made her literary debut in 1984 with the fantasy novel The Copper Crown; several more would follow, including The Oak Above the King, The Hedge of Mist, and Blackmantle. In 1992, she published a memoir, Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison, and most recently, a series of rock-themed mystery novels, including A Hard Slay’s Night: Murder at the Royal Albert Hall and Scareway to Heaven: Murder at the Fillmore East.

In an interview with the website American Legends, Kennealy-Morrison recalled her late partner.

“He didn’t handle pain well,” she said. “But pain for Jim, as for so many artists, was a source of creativity. I think that he thought if he stopped hurting, he’d stop creating. And he was hurtful to others because he was afraid of being hurt himself. He found it hard to accept love because he had never been given very much of it, and did not think himself worthy of love.”

On social media, users paid tribute to Kennealy-Morrison and her unusual career.

“I once had the pleasure of sitting down at the Windsor Arms to speak with Patricia for a show that Tina Hardt and I did for the CBC,” Dani Elwell tweeted. “Sad to see she has left us.”

And musician Michael Simmons wrote, “She was a terrific music journalist and Jazz [and] Pop was one of the finest smart music mags du jour.”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.