Bahman Farzaneh, known for his Persian translation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s widely acclaimed novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, died on Thursday in a Tehran hospital, where he was being treated for diabetes, his sister, Setareh, told the the Persian news agencies.

His left leg was cut off few weeks ago due to diabetic infection.

Farzaneh returned to Iran from a long stay in Italy in March last 2013 and announced his retirement.

“I do not want to translate anymore. I am tired after years of working and I prefer to stay in Iran and to rest,” he told the Persian service of ISNA in an interview in July.

“I have translated over 80 books and I have become old,” he said.

He provided the first Persian translation of “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, which many readers and critics consider the best ever Persian translation.

“In my view, literature and cinema have reached the end of the line. No good novels are written anymore. If some good works are occasionally created, they are the sparks from the fire just before it is put out,” Farzaneh stated.

His first translation was American writer Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1959), which was published in 1964.

He translated works by Cuban-Italian writer Alba de Céspedes y Bertini, British novelist Roald Dahl, Italian writers Luigi Pirandello, Ignazio Silone, Vasco Pratolini, Gabriele D’Annunzio and several other world-renowned literati.

Farzaneh also authored two short story collections “From Hole to Well” and “The Lost Needles”, and the novel “Rough Draft”.

“We became familiar with Garcia Marquez and magic realism by Bahman Farzaneh’s translation from ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’,” Abdolllah Kowsari, a veteran Persian translator of Latin American literature, told the Persian service of ISNA on Friday.