CHICAGO -- David Kellum, the legendary 'Bud Billiken,' died in Rush Presbyterian-St.Lukes Medical Center Friday. He was 76.
Kellum died after he developed pneumonia while in the hospital.
He was admitted about two weeks ago after he fractured his leg in a fall.
Kellum graduated in 1923 from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and joined the Chicago Defender newspaper.
Kellum's son, James, said his father asked the newspaper to print a weekly children's column called the Bud Billiken Children's Club.
'The idea was all the children would want to be in the club so their parents would buy the newspaper and increase its circulation,' he said in a telephone interview.
James said the idea soon mushroomed into an annual parade, which was sponsored by the newspaper and named after the Chinese idol Billiken, the patron saint of children.
The parade was an annual summer event for youngsters and their families. Last year marked the parade's 51st anniversary.
The Bud Billiken Day parade is considered the third largest parade in the country next to the Tournament of Roses on New Years' Day and Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.
