Papa Berenstain died on Saturday

Stan Berenstain, who helped teach generations of children to read with the Berenstain Bears series of books he created with his wife, died Nov. 26 of complications from cancer at his home in Bucks County, Pa. He was 82.

Beginning in 1962 with the first title in their series about a lovable family of bears, "The Big Honey Hunt," the Berenstains found a formula that drew millions of young readers and propelled their books into one of the most successful franchises in children's literature. In the past 43 years, the husband-and-wife team wrote and illustrated approximately 250 books about the bears.

More than 260 million copies have been sold, and the Berenstain Bears have branched out into two television series, videos, stage musicals, toys, cereal and other products. Mr. Berenstain and his family managed the entire enterprise by themselves until 1997, when they hired an employee to run the computer.

Pitched primarily toward children ages 4 to 8, the books introduced vocabulary and gentle moral lessons. The bear family originally consisted of a father, mother and one son, but over the years the den expanded with a girl cub. (Sister Bear, always wearing pink overalls, liked to play with her "Bearbie" doll.) The family lived in a cozy, five-story treehouse.

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