Nora Ephron Photo: CFP

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nora Ephron, known for romantic comedies When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle as well as books and essays, has died in New York after battling leukemia. She was 71.

"It is with great sadness that we report that Nora Ephron has died," her publisher Alfred A. Knopf said in a statement. "She brought an awful lot of people a tremendous amount of joy. She will be sorely missed."

The New York Times cited her son, Jacob Bernstein, as saying Ephron died of pneumonia brought about by acute myeloid leukemia. Bernstein is a freelance reporter for the Times.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement calling the loss "a devastating one" for the city's arts and cultural community.

"From her earliest days at New York City's newspapers to her biggest Hollywood successes, Nora always loved a good New York story, and she could tell them like no one else," Bloomberg said in a statement.

Ephron, who began her career as a journalist, often parlayed her own love life into movies like Heartburn and gave her acerbic take on aging in the 2010 essay collection, I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections. She had kept her illness largely private except for close friends and family.

The elegant Ephron, known for habitually dressing in black, urged aging friends and readers to make the most of their lives.

Reuters