Maurice Sendak, author

Sad news today: The sometimes cantankerous but always charming Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, passed away earlier today at age 83. His death was due to recent complications from his last stroke. The New York Times obit recalled Mr. Sendak's body of work:

"Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children. He was known in particular for more than a dozen picture books he wrote and illustrated himself, most famously “Where the Wild Things Are,” which was simultaneously genre-breaking and career-making when it was published by Harper & Row in 1963."

In February of last year, a mural created by Mr. Sendak before he released Where the Wild Things Are ended up in Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum and Library.

He also wrote other books (including our favorite, Zlateh the Goat) but will best be remembered by new generations for being the author of the movie adaptation by David Eggers and Spike Jonze. Either that, or his hilarious Colbert Report interview.