Johannes Mario Simmel dies at 84

Switzerland, Jan 03: Austrian novelist Johannes Mario Simmel has died at the age of 84, his lawyer announced.

The author, whose most famous novel "It Can`t Always Be Caviar" sold 30 million copies worldwide, died Thursday at a retirement home in the Swiss town of Zug, although no cause of death was given. His work was translated into more than 30 languages, selling as many 73 million books in total over his career. Simmel was born in Vienna on April 7, 1924. His father Walter Simmel, a German Jew, was a chemist while his mother Lisa worked for a local film studios. Half of his family lost their lives in the Nazi concentration camps during the World War I. After the end of the conflict, he worked for the US army as a translator in Austria, then as a journalist, before publishing a series of short stories. "It Can`t Always Be Caviar" was published in 1959 and brought Simmel international recognition, whose other works also include The Cain Conspiracy and The Berlin Connection. Bureau Report