Danton Burroughs, who spent his life marketing and protecting the work of his grandfather, Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, died May 1 at his home in Tarzana, the San Fernando Valley community named after his ancestor's most famous fictional character. He was 63.
Burroughs, who had been battling Parkinson's disease, died of heart failure a day after a fire at his home destroyed a room filled with family memorabilia.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, May 16, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 50 words Type of Material: Correction
Burroughs obituary: The obituary in Thursday's California section of Danton Burroughs, who guarded the legacy of his grandfather, Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, said that Tarzan of the Apes first appeared as a short story in 1911. The character debuted in 1912 in a short novel published in All-Story Magazine.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Alex Cornelius, a family spokesman.
Bill Hillman, an editor of Edgar Rice Burroughs-related websites, told The Times that "it was heartbreaking for Dan to put his life's work into preserving material for the family and see it go up in flames."
The day he died, Danton Burroughs was to be named chairman of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc., the company his grandfather formed in 1923 to merchandise his abundant fiction, which included dozens of novels and short stories.
"My grandfather was always smart, taking care of trademarks and copyrights and going after infringers," Burroughs told The Times in 1990.
In 1972, Burroughs became an officer and director of the family business, overseeing the company from a Mission-style bungalow on Ventura Boulevard that his grandfather built in 1927. The office is on the northern edge of 550 acres that Edgar Rice Burroughs named Tarzana Ranch in 1919. The community began going by the Tarzana name in the 1920s.
Profits from the creation of the fantasy character Tarzan of the Apes, which first appeared in a short story in 1911, allowed Edgar Rice Burroughs to purchase the land from the estate of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, the second publisher of the Los Angeles Times.
Decades after the author's death in 1950, revenue from Tarzan-related products continued to roll in as Danton Burroughs negotiated the sale of Tarzan rights for feature films, video games, comic books and such disparate products as stuffed animals, sleepwear, jackknives and multivitamins.
He also carefully protected the source of the family fortune, suing anyone who used the Tarzan name or likeness without a license, according to a 1999 Times story.
The business is "a multimillion-dollar corporation," Burroughs said in 1985 in The Times. "We don't tell anyone exactly how much money is involved. It's a privately held corporation, and we like to keep a low profile."
Within the business, the gregarious Burroughs was especially valued as a historical archivist, said Jim Sullos, company president.
