NOTEWORTHY DEATHS

LITTLE ROCK — Motivational speaker, author, 86

DALLAS - Motivational speaker

Zig Ziglar, who wrote more than 30 books on living a balanced life, has died in Texas. He was 86.

Ziglar, who had been suffering from pneumonia, diedWednesday at a hospital in the Dallas suburb of Plano, said his personal assistant, Jay Hellwig.

With an aim of helping people achievesuccess in their careers and personal lives, in addition to a focus on Christianity, Ziglar was a prolific speaker who appeared at events alongside world leaders including several U.S. presidents and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“Mr. Ziglar was the same guy behind the closed doors as he was preparing for hispresentations to thousands of people that he was when we were sitting at the kitchen table and he was reading the newspaper,” Hellwig said.

Ziglar started his fulltime career in motivational speaking when he was in his 40s. His first book, See You at the Top, was published in 1975, when he was 49.

His book, Confessions of a Grieving Christian, was written after the 1995 death of his oldest daughter, Suzan, at the age of 46.

After a 2007 fall down a flight of stairs left him with a brain injury, Ziglar, along with another daughter, Julie Ziglar Norman, wrote Embrace the Struggle, a book that described how his lifechanged after the injury.

In addition to his daughter Julie, Ziglar is survived by his wife, Jean, with whom he celebrated 66 years of marriage Monday; his son, Tom Ziglar; and daughter Cindy Oates.