Travel book author Leila Hadley, whose career was prompted by an impulsive worldwide journey, has died in New York at the age of 83, one of her sons says. Matthew Elliot confirmed his mother died of unspecified causes this past week in Manhattan following years of suffering with emphysema, The New York Times reported Sunday. Hadley gained a following as a travel writer after embarking on a two-year trip around the world in 1951 with her other son, Arthur T.