Noted linguist and author Charles Berlitz, whose books sparked interest in the Bermuda Triangle and whose grandfather founded the language schools that bear the family name, has died at age 90.
Berlitz, a longtime Fort Lauderdale resident, died on December 18 at University hospital in Tamarac, The Miami Herald reported in weekend editions quoting relatives.
Charles Berlitz spoke numerous languages and worked as head of publications for the Berlitz Company in New York, where he wrote language curricula for schools around the world. His grandfather, Maximilian Berlitz, founded the school in 1878 in France.
Charles Berlitz was internationally known for his bestseller The Bermuda Triangle and other books on paranormal phenomena such as Without a Trace, The Philadelphia Experiment: Project Invisibility, The Roswell Incident and The Dragon’s Triangle.
He was born in New York City in 1913. He spent three decades working for the Berlitz Company as a writer, a lecturer and travel expert. He developed recorded language lessons and worked on simplifying his grandfather’s teaching methods.
He also spent 26 years in the army, serving as an intelligence officer.
He began visiting Florida during the 1970s when he was researching his books on the Bermuda Triangle and the lost continent of Atlantis. In the early 1980s, he and his wife, Valerie, moved to Fort Lauderdale.
He is survived by his wife, a daughter and two grandchildren. — Sapa-AP