He translated literature from eight languages (Russian, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, German, Dutch, French, Romanian, and Hungarian),[1] including works by Anton Chekhov, Milan Kundera, and Günter Grass.

In New York, Imre was working as a piano teacher when he was introduced to Blanche, Heim's mother, whom he married shortly thereafter.

When the tanks rolled into Prague, he was in the unique position of being able to translate between Czech and Russian, thereby facilitating communications between the Soviet soldiers and the Czechoslovaks on the streets.

[4] He was married for thirty-seven years to his wife, Priscilla Smith Kerr, who brought three children of her own, Rebecca, Jocelyn and Michael, into the family from a previous marriage.

Every two years, Heim taught a workshop in literary translation at UCLA's Department of Comparative Literature,[8] which was highly regarded by his students.

[5] Heim served as editor of a translation series published by Northwestern University Press, and was several times a juror for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

[9] After Heim's death, it was revealed with his wife's permission that he was the secret donor behind the PEN Translation Fund,[5] which was set up in 2003 with his gift of $730,000.