'Rain Man' inspiration dies at 58

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Kim Peek, the Utah savant who was the inspiration for the Raymond character in the 1988 film "Rain Man," has died of a heart attack, his family said.

He was 58.

The Salt Lake Tribune said a funeral for Peek, who suffered an upper respiratory infection in the weeks leading up to his death, is scheduled for Tuesday.

"He had a depth and breadth of knowledge and a memory that was just unbelievable," Daniel Christensen, a professor with the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute, told the newspaper this week. "He was unique. I don't know if there will ever be another person quite like Kim."

Diagnosed as an infant as severely mentally challenged, Peek reportedly was able to read and memorize entire volumes of information starting when he was 16 months old. He had a photographic memory, but also suffered from developmental disabilities.

"He could find anything he wanted to. He read all of Shakespeare, the Old and New Testaments," his father, Fran Peek, told the Tribune.

The younger Peek is believed to have memorized at least 9,000 books before he died.

Dustin Hoffman won an Academy Award for portraying a character loosely based on him. The popularity of "Rain Man," co-starring Tom Cruise, made Peek a celebrity and he frequently traveled for speaking engagements.

Peek is survived by his father, his mother, Jeanne W. Buchi, a brother and a sister, the Tribune said.