Children's book ‘Babar’ heir and author Laurent de Brunhoff dies at 98

Babar author Laurent de Brunhoff poses for a photograph with Babar while celebrating 75 years of the book on Friday, April 21, 2006 at Mabel's Fables in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. De Brunhoff, a Paris native who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s, died Friday, March 22, 2024 at his home in Key West, Fla., according to The New York Times. —PHOTO: Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP

Babar author Laurent de Brunhoff, who revived his father's popular picture book series about an elephant-king and presided over its rise to a global, multimedia franchise, has died. He was 98.

De Brunhoff, a Paris native who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s, died Friday at his home in Key West, Florida, after being in hospice care for two weeks, according to his widow, Phyllis Rose.