Playwright Jerome Lawrence dead at 88

MALIBU, Calif., March 3 (UPI) -- "Inherit the Wind" playwright Jerome Lawrence has died at the age of 88 in his California home, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Best-known for "Auntie Mame," "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" and "The Last Sunday in October," all collaborations with the late writer Robert E. Lee, Lawrence died Feb. 29 at his home in Malibu.

Born in Cleveland in 1915, Lawrence's father owned a printing company and his mother was a poet and philanthropist.

A World War II veteran, Lawrence earned a B.A. from Ohio State University in 1937 and later did graduate work at the University of California.

Lawrence reportedly met Lee in New York in 1942 while Lawrence was a writer for CBS radio and Lee was working for Young & Rubicam, the advertising agency.

Lawrence is survived by his companion, Will Willoughby, of Malibu, and nieces and nephews.

Lee died in 1994.