She also raised three children and was known for her random acts of kindness, whether hanging dollar bills from a tree or leaving notes on cash machines.
She found a whole new audience when she wrote a piece for the New York Times' column Modern Love, about how she learned of her fatal diagnosis and how she hoped her husband would one day find love without her.
"If you're looking for a dreamy, let's-go-for-it travel companion, Jason is your man," she wrote.
"He also has an affinity for tiny things: taster spoons, little jars, a mini-sculpture of a couple sitting on a bench, which he presented to me as a reminder of how our family began.
"Here is the kind of man Jason is: He showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers. This is a man who, because he is always up early, surprises me every Sunday morning by making some kind of oddball smiley face out of items near the coffeepot: a spoon, a mug, a banana."
She described how she simply wanted to spend more time with her husband and her children.
"I am wrapping this up on Valentine's Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins," she added.
