Cabot Professor of American Literature Alan E. Heimert '49, a member of the Harvard community for half a century, died last night in New York after a heart attack.

Heimert, who was on leave from the History and Literature department, suffered a stroke in early 1997, but had returned to teaching last year.

Heimert had spent the longest time in service to the College of any Faculty member.

He arrived at Harvard in 1945 as a first-year from Elmhurst, Ill., and went on to become Eliot House master, chair of the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature, chair of the English and American Civilization department and the preeminent scholar on Puritan America.

Last year, Heimert taught an Eliot House Seminar on Abraham Lincoln fall semester and a seminar on Puritan America in the spring.

Heimert, who had written his undergraduate thesis on Lincoln, said in an interview last spring that the last five years of teaching were his most rewarding.

Heimert was recognized for his teaching prowess in 1997 when he was awarded the Levinson prize for excellence in teaching.

Heimert is survived by his wife, Arline, a member of the Radcliffe class of 1959, his daugher, Larisa and son, Andrew.