PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Children's television star W. Carter Merbreier, better know as Captain Noah, died Tuesday after a short illness. He had recently celebrated his 90th birthday.
Merbreier created and starred on the series Captain Noah and His Magical Ark which, at one point, boasted more viewers than Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street combined.
The show ran for 27 years with his beloved wife Pat as co-host Mrs. Noah, and featured appearances by celebrities from John Lennon to Charles Barkley to Stevie Wonder.
During its height in the early years of the '70s, Captain Noah was broadcast on 22 TV stations across the country.
Merbreier, a Lutheran pastor and chaplain for the Philadelphia Police Department, started the show in the late '60s as a religious program, but had switched to a children's show by the early '70s. It aired on 6abc until 1994.
Earlier this year, Merbreier told the Philadelphia Daily News that he knew his time was coming.
"At my age, you know you're closer to death than when you were 49," he said.
"We lost a dear friend and TV legend today," 6abc President and General Manager Bernie Prazenica said in a statement Tuesday. "What we remember about Carter was he loved to make children smile, and he maintained a deep faith in the human spirit."
