Pat Kavanagh; was leading British literary agent; at 68

LONDON - Pat Kavanagh, one of Britain's most respected literary agents, died Monday from a brain tumor. She was 68.

Mrs. Kavanagh's stable of writers included her husband, Julian Barnes, Robert Harris, Margaret Drabble, Ruth Rendell, Joanna Trollope, and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion.

Mrs. Kavanagh was a leader of last year's walkout by agents at the venerable Peters, Fraser, and Dunlop literary agency in a dispute with its owners, CSS Stellar PLC. The agents banded together to form United Artists.

"She was fantastically efficient and just the person you wanted to have represent you," said Harris. "There was no one quite like her really. And she was exotic, like a bird of paradise."

Novelist Blake Morrison said Mrs. Kavanagh was the finest agent of her generation. "She was completely trustworthy and when you sent her a typescript she would always let you know what she thought in no uncertain terms. She had complete integrity," Morrison said.