Nora Ephron, queen of the romantic comedy, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 71. Although the writer-director’s career in Hollywood was uneven, to put it lightly, she managed to give us the defining rom-com, a movie that set the standard for the genre. That’s achievement enough worth celebrating.

I’m referring, of course, to the delightful ‘When Harry Met Sally‘, which Ephron scripted for director Rob Reiner. The movie was a huge hit, nabbed Ephron her second of three Oscar nominations (the first was for the drama ‘Silkwood’), and remains beloved today despite countless lesser imitators over the years (some of which she made herself).

One of those imitators was ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, for which Ephron moved into the director’s chair. Even though the movie was criticized for being formulaic and derivative, it was popular enough to score another Oscar nomination for screenwriting.

Ephron recycled herself yet again for the dreadful ‘You’ve Got Mail‘. This was followed by further duds including ‘Lucky Numbers’, ‘Hanging Up’ and that misbegotten adaptation of ‘Bewitched’. However, she came back in 2009 and ended her career on an up-note with ‘Julie & Julia‘, which received favorable reviews, was a solid hit, and landed Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination (as if she didn’t have enough already).

Ephron had been battling leukemia since 2006.