Encyclopedia Brown Author Donald Sobol Death Represents Loss of a Literary Legend

On Monday, the literary community faced the death of two of its reknowned members: Donald Sobol and Stephen Covey. 

Sobol, author of the beloved children's mystery series Encyclopedia Brown, passed away on Wednesday from natural causes. He was 87. 

After Sobol was famously rejected over two-dozen times from various publishing houses, he finally published the first of the Encyclopedia Brown books in 1963. The series follows 10-year-old Leroy Brown (no relation to "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown") and his tomboy partner-in-crime-solving Sally Kimball. The series proved so popular that it has never gone out of print. 

Sobol continued writing into his 80s. 

The industry's second piece of sad news came with the announcement of Stephen Covey's death. The author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, died on Monday at the age of 79. His family issued a statement saying his death was caused by the residual effects of a bicycling accident. 

Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People sold more than 20 million copies and was listed by Time and Forbes as one of the most influential management books ever. 

Two very different writers, on this day in history both Covey and Sobol will be remembered for their influential contributions.