CLAREMORE — Bryan Sterling, who with his wife, Frances, spent many years recording the legacy of Will Rogers, died Sunday, April 13, 2008 in New York City. Services will be 9:30 a.m. Thursday at “The Riverside” in New York City.
The Sterlings spent a lot of time in Claremore and at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum during the more than 30 years they worked on Will Rogers’ books.
“I admired him for his passion for Will,” said Steve Gragert, Will Rogers Memorial Museums director, who will be in New York for the funeral. “He and Frances have left behind a collection of writings that cannot be replaced, one that anyone in the community of Will Rogers and those beyond can consult with confidence and pleasure.”
Sterling and his wife, who died in 2007, were responsible for researching and writing the largest volume of privately published work about the life and words of Will Rogers.
Their bibliography of Rogers’ writings, produced singly or jointly, include “The Will Rogers Scrapbook,” “The Best of Will Rogers,” “A Will Rogers Treasury,” “ Will Rogers in Hollywood,” “Will Rogers’ World,” and “Will Rogers and Wiley Post: Death at Barrow.”
The Sterlings spent many years interviewing and recording conservations with family members and others who knew Will and worked with him.
Sterling was an associate producer of the award-winning stage play “Will Rogers U.S.A.,” which starred James Whitmore. He selected and edited much of the Rogers material used in the production. He selected and edited a syndicated column, “Will Rogers Says,” carried in many newspapers.
Other published work included biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt.
Survivors are a nephew and niece, Mark and Suzanna Wingerson. Mark accompanied Sterling to Claremore last year.
The family requests memorial donations in Bryan Sterling’s memory made to Will Rogers Memorial Museum.