David Stern III (September 2, 1909 – November 22, 2003), also known as David J. Stern was an American prose fiction writer and scriptwriter, sometimes under the name Peter Stirling—that of the human lead opposite his most famous character, Francis the Talking Mule. He was the publisher of a New Orleans newspaper for a time, and was the son of a much more prominent newspaper publisher,

J. David Stern Julius David Stern (April 1, 1886 – October 10, 1971) was an American newspaper publisher, best known as the liberal Democratic publisher of ''The Philadelphia Record'' from 1928 to 1947. He published other newspapers including the ''New York P ...

Biography

During World War II, Stern became a captain in the US Army working on military newspapers. During this time he had an idea to write about a talking mule and published ''Francis'' in 1946. The '' Francis the Talking Mule'' books later became a film series, though his 1948 sequel ''Francis Goes to Washington'' was never filmed. In 1949, he purchased the '' New Orleans Item-Tribune'' for $2,000,000. He ran the paper until its 1958 merger with the ''Daily States'' newspaper. In 1958, the ''Item-Tribune'' merged with the ''Daily States'' (founded in 1880) to form the New Orleans ''Daily States-Item''. In 1962, the publisher and businessman Samuel I. Newhouse bought the morning '' Times-Picayune'' as well as the afternoon ''States-Item'', which continued to be published separately until they were merged and combined in 1980.

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Peter Stirling
at LC Authorities, with 1 record {{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, David III Stern family 2003 deaths Place of birth missing Businesspeople from Pennsylvania American publishing chief executives 1909 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers United States Army personnel of World War II