Laurent de Brunhoff, who delighted young readers for decades with his stories about Babar the Elephant, has died at 98, the New York Times reports.

De Brunhoff, a Paris native, was 5 years old when his mother told him and his younger brother a bedtime story about Babar, an elephant whose mother is killed by a hunter, and who finds his way to Paris, returns to Africa, and becomes king of his fellow pachyderms.

De Brunhoff and his brother convinced their father, Jean de Brunhoff, to draw pictures of the elephant. The eventual result was The Story of Babar, published in 1931; six more books would follow.

Jean de Brunhoff died in 1937, and 11 years later, Laurent de Brunhoff brought Babar back with the book Babar’s Cousin: That Rascal Arthur. Laurent de Brunhoff would go on to write and illustrate more than four dozen more books featuring the character; the last one, Babar's Guide to Paris, was published in 2017.

Laurent de Brunhoff’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On X, formerly known as Twitter, filmmaker Whit Stillman wrote, “Sad #Babar news. R.I.P. Laurent de Brunhoff, 98. His books are exquisitely beautiful & charming.”

And Puffin Books editorial director Linas Alsenas posted, “Laurent was a huge-hearted, thoughtful, talented creator who was always very kind to me early in my career. My thoughts are with [his wife] @phyllisrose today.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.