R.M. Stern, 86; His Book Inspired ‘Towering Inferno’

Richard Martin Stern, 86, an award-winning author whose book “The Tower” was a basis for the 1974 movie “The Towering Inferno,” died Oct. 31 at his home in Santa Fe, N.M.

Born in Fresno, a fourth-generation Californian, Stern attended Harvard and lived in New York City, where he began writing short stories for Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post. His first book, “The Bright Road to Fear” in 1958, won the Edgar Award in 1959 for best first novel. The award, presented by the Mystery Writers of America, is named for Edgar Allan Poe.

Stern also wrote a number of disaster novels, including “The Tower.” Screenwriter Sterling Silliphant combined that book with “The Glass Inferno,” by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, for “The Towering Inferno” screenplay.