Was named an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur
Trained under painter Othon Friesz at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere
Published his first Babar book, "Babar's Cousin, That Rascal Arthur," in 1946 when he was 21 years old
Babar was first invented in a story of a then-unnamed elephant that his mother, Cecile de Brunhoff, told to him and his brother at bedtime one night in 1931
Began taking over the writing and illustrating of Babar's adventures after his father, the series creator, died of tuberculosis
Quote: "At the start it was a way of getting my father alive again․ I wanted to be faithful․ I didn't want to touch the heart of the Babar books - which is a human story․․․[but] after a while it was like Babar was my own․"
Best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series "Babar the Elephant․"