Dead Poets founder dies after ordering tombstone

ELKINS PARK - The founder of the Dead Poets Society of America suffered a fatal heart attack little more than a month after commissioning his own tombstone.

Walter Skold enlisted the son of novelist John Updike to carve a unique tombstone that will be topped with a dancing skeleton and a quill. Michael Updike, who received the poet's deposit last month, said he never expected to be carving the monument so soon.

There was no indication of any premonition of an untimely death before Skold's passing at age 57 on Jan 20 in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, Updike said on Friday.