Edgar Rice Burroughs’s grandson Danton Burroughs died on 1 May 2008. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, but died of heart failure a day after a fire at his home in Tarzana, California, destroyed his collection of family memorabilia. Born in Los Angeles on 21 June 1944, he had been scheduled to be named chairman of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. the day of his death (his grandfather had formed the company in 1923 to merchandise his fiction). “My grandfather was always smart, taking care of trademarks and copyrights and going after infringers,” Burroughs said in a 1990 interview. The privately held corporation was a multi-million dollar concern, but “we don’t tell anyone exactly how much money is involved… we like to keep a low profile,” he had said earlier.
The elder Burroughs’s most famous creation, Tarzan the Ape Man, was created in 1911. With profits from his works, ERB bought the 500+ acre Tarzana Ranch. Later, the town of Tarzana took the same name, and it was there that the younger grew up. In addition to protecting his grandfather’s intellectual property for the family, Danton named his daughters after princesses of ERB’s Mars: Dejah and Llana Jane.
Danton Burroughs is survived by his wife, Linda; his daughters; his brother, John Ralston Burroughs; and his sister, Dian Burroughs. A service will be held at 2PM at the Tarzana Community and Cultural Center, 19130 Ventura Boulevard, Tarzana, California.
Instead of flowers, the family suggests donating to the Danton Burroughs Memorial Fund at Parkinson’s Resource Organization, www.parkinsonsresource.org.
For more information, see this Los Angeles Times obituary or ERBzine.