TOLEDO, Ohio — John P. Saunders, who wrote the comic strip soap opera "Mary Worth" for 24 years, taking it over from his father and bringing in new characters, has died at age 79.
Saunders died Saturday in a hospital of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his wife, Alice Saunders.
After a 33-year career in radio and television as an announcer and newsman, Saunders took over writing "Mary Worth" in 1979 from his father, Allen Saunders.
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The elder Saunders had done the strip since 1938, changing the name of a strip that began in 1932 as "Apple Mary."