WELLESLEY (AP) — Nora Ephron is being remembered by her alma mater as a courageous truth-teller with a “magical gift with words.”

Wellesley College released a statement Wednesday, a day after the author and filmmaker, a member of its class of 1962, died of leukemia.

Ephron is best known for movies such as “When Harry Met Sally,” which she wrote, and the more recent “Julie & Julia,” which she wrote and directed.

Wellesley president H. Kim Bottomly said Ephron began her career at the newspaper at the all-women’s school. She noted a 1962 yearbook photo showing Ephron seated at a typewriter in the center of the newsroom.

Bottomly called Ephron a trailblazer who succeeded in male-dominated industries. She recalled Ephron’s 1996 commencement speech, in which she advised students “to make some trouble on behalf of women.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.