--Oct. 16, 1999-- Jean Shepherd, the prolific author and radio and television personality whose storytelling has been compared with that of Mark Twain, died of natural causes on Saturday, October 16, 1999 at 3:20 AM, in Lee Memorial Hospital near his Sanobel Island, Florida home, his long time friend and business advisor Irwin Zwilling said. Marshall McLuan once called Shepherd "the first radio novelist".

Zwilling said "Jean was an avid Chicago White Sox fan, and hated the Yankees, but nonetheless was probably glued to the television this week". He had been working on a new film in recent years even as his health was failing. Shepherd had remained completely out of the public eye in recent years except for isolated live appearances on a WFAN radio show including one on September 1996 hosted by Zwilling and Ann Ligouri.

A memorial celebration of his works is being planned in New York.

His favorite activity was story telling. "Shep" created such memorable works as the movie Christmas Story (in 1983) which TV Guide called "one of the great Christmas classics of all time." It airs each year on TBS. He wrote a sequel, Summer Story. He authored books including The America of George Ade, The Ferrari in the Bedroom , In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, a Fistful of Fig Newtons, and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, and created a vast number of characters and stories. In addition, his television programs included the widely syndicated "Jean Shepherd's America" PBS programs in the 1970's and were later continued on the PBS New Jersey Network as "Shepherd's Pie". He hosted nightly a 45-minute radio show on WOR in New York, from in the 1950's and 1960's, and a series of live Saturday night broadcasts from The Limelight, a Greenwich Village, New York nightclub.

He carried his talent for story telling to Carnegie Hall, which he sold out, and numerous one-man shows at corporate conventions, meetings, and college campuses. Among his favorites was a series of appearances each year at Princeton University in the 1970's and 1980's as well as on numerous other campuses.

Shepherd wrote for the most diverse selection of publications imaginable, including Mad Magazine and Lampoon, The New York Times, Playboy, Mademoiselle, Car and Driver, and Omni. In addition he was an early columnist for Village Voice in New York.

Born Jean Parker Shepherd on July 21, 1921, in Hammond, Indiana, he attended public schools, graduating from Hammond High School in 1939. During World War 11, he served in the Signal Corps. Shepherd attended Indiana University before launching his radio career as host of a show named "Rear Bumper". He began his career on stage in Chicago as a performer at the Goodman Theatre, and performed night club acts on Rush Street.

Shepherd's wife Leigh Brown died in June 1998 and the couple had no children. There are no survivors. Zwilling said.

The above text is from the alt.obituaries newsgroup posted on Saturday October 16, 1:41 pm Eastern Time

|| New check out our special look back - Jean Shepherd Local News Stories ||
|| Visit our special photo retrospective - Jean Shepherd Through The Years ||
|| Our other links to Jean Shepherd & Flick's Tavern || Also visit The Jean Shepherd Home Page ||

|| SEARCH || INDEX || MESSAGE BOARD || WEATHER || HISTORY || LINKS || PHOTOS || POSTCARDS || NEWSSTAND ||