Austrian author Johannes Mario Simmel dies at 84
ZUG, Switzerland -- Austrian-born author Johannes Mario Simmel, whose books are said to have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide, died in the Swiss town where he lived, a local official said Friday. He was 84.
Simmel died in a care home in Zug, near Zurich, on Thursday, town clerk Irene Schwendimann said, without giving the cause of death or any further details.
Simmel's books regularly topped German-language best-seller lists before Nobel laureates such as Heinrich Boell and Guenter Grass.
His works include the World War II spy novel "It can't always be caviar" and the Cold War thriller "Dear Fatherland."
Many of his books were translated into other languages, and the play "The Classmate" was adapted for Broadway.
Born in 1924 in the Austrian capital Vienna, Simmel trained as a chemical engineer before discovering his talent for writing. He published his first novel in 1949 while working as a translator for the American military administration in postwar Austria.
Most of his father's family, who were of Jewish origin, died in the Holocaust, and Simmel was a lifelong campaigner against racism and fascism.
A funeral will be held in Zug in coming days, Schwendimann said.
Simmel was married three times. Information about survivors was not immediately available.