Else Holmelund Minarik

The wonderful Else Minarik passed away at age 91.  She wrote the the Little Bear books in her simple, beautiful prose.  She first took her manuscript to Random House (in the 1950s), and an editor there suggested the bears should be humans.  Minarik refused the suggestion because children of all colors would be reading her book and she wanted everyone to be able to relate to the story.  You can read more about Minarik in this obituary from the New York Times.