The Vampire Diaries author L.J. Smith passed away earlier this month on March 8. At the time of her death, The Vampire Diaries author L.J. Smith was sixty-six years old.

Lisa Jane Smith "L.J. Smith," the author of the Vampire Diaries book series, died on Saturday, March 8, at 66 years old in Walnut Creek, California. Smith's partner, Julie Divola, as well as her sister, Judy Clifford, told the New York Times she "died in a hospital after enduring the cascading effects of a rare autoimmune disease for a decade."