David Stern III, 94; Publisher Wrote ‘Talking Mule’ Novel

David Stern III, former publisher of the New Orleans Item and author of “Francis, the Talking Mule,” a novel that inspired a series of movies, died Saturday in San Francisco at the age of 94.

Stern, a native of Philadelphia who graduated from Harvard University, had a 30-year newspaper career, including top management posts at the New York Post, the Philadelphia Record and the Courier Post in Camden, N.J.

Stern and some associates bought the Item in 1949 for about $2 million, according to Editor & Publisher, a trade magazine. He ran the paper until its merger with the States in 1958.

As a captain in the Army during World War II, Stern helped publish Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for soldiers. It was during the war, his family said, that he came up with the idea for a novel about a gifted Army mule whose spoken advice to a bumbling young lieutenant wins battles and astounds the high brass.

A series of “Francis” movies starring Donald O’Connor was launched in 1949 and ran through 1956.