Audrey Geisel (August 14, 1921-December 22, 2018) was the widow of Dr. Seuss and oversaw his estate. She was based in San Diego. ^[1]

Audrey Stone was born on Aug. 14, 1921, in Chicago. Her father, Norman Alfred Stone, who was a song and dance man, left the family early, and Audrey was later raised in and around Queens. Her mother, Ruth (Benson) Stone, a Norwegian immigrant, moved to New York and raised Audrey on her own in and around Queens. When Audrey was 5, her mother decided to live in a nurse’s dormitory to save money and sent her daughter to live with a friend in New Rochelle, N.Y., for five years. At the age of 21, Audrey enrolled in the nursing program at Indiana University, where she met E. Grey Dimond, a pre-med student whom she would soon marry. ^[0]

Dimond became the dean of cardiology at the University of Kansas, and they had two daughters before they moved to the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego in 1960. In La Jolla, the Dimonds became friends with Mr. Geisel and his first wife, Helen. Mr. Geisel was 17 years older than Ms. Dimond, but they fell in love, and in 1967 Helen Geisel, who suffered from several illnesses, committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates. Audrey would divorce her husband to may Mr. Geisel, after which she sent her daughters away to school. ^[0]

Audrey would support her husband on his authorship endeavors and when he died became the guardian of his legacy.

In 1993 she founded Dr. Seuss Enterprises, whose stated mission was to “protect the integrity of the Dr. Seuss books while expanding beyond books into ancillary areas ," meaning keeping an eye on copyrights and trademarks for Dr. Seuss merchandise and spinoffs that would be sold worldwide.

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Audrey oversaw the Dr. Seuss global operation of publishing ventures, film projects, games and celebrations.

Under her watch, a number of film adaptations of Dr. Seuss' work were created including “Horton Hears a Who!”, “The Cat in the Hat”, “The Lorax,” “Dr.

Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas," as well as the broadway show "Seussical."

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Audrey has given $20 million and thousands of her husband’s drawings and manuscripts to the University of California, San Diego, where the Geisel Library is named for both of them. She and her husband also donated millions over the years to what is now the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where Mr. Geisel was an undergraduate. ^[0]

On December 19th, 2018, Audrey passed away at her home in San Diego.

She was 97-years-old.

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