ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997                TAG: 9704150091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.H.
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 

MICHAEL DORRIS, AUTHOR, FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL

Michael Dorris, who told the story of his adopted son's battle with fetal alcohol syndrome in his award-winning book ``The Broken Cord,'' has died, an apparent suicide. He was 52.

Dorris was found dead in a motel room Friday. Fred Wilk, owner of the Brick Tower Motor Inn, said Dorris used a plastic bag to suffocate himself.

Dorris and author Louise Erdrich, with whom he wrote the 1991 best-selling novel ``The Crown of Columbus,'' were divorcing.

Dorris, who held degrees from Georgetown and Yale universities, had been on leave as an English professor at Dartmouth College. As an anthropology professor, he founded the college's Native American Studies department in 1972 and headed it until 1985.

``The Broken Cord,'' published in 1989, detailed his son's struggles with incurable mental handicaps caused by his birth mother's drinking.

Dorris' other works include the novel ``A Yellow Raft in Blue Water'' and his latest novel, ``Cloud Chamber.''

-ASSOCIATED PRESS

LENGTH: Short :   31 lines