David Stern III (September 2, 1909 – November 22, 2003), also known as David J. Stern[1] was an American prose fiction writer and scriptwriter, sometimes under the name Peter Stirling—that of the human lead opposite his most famous character, Francis the Talking Mule.
During World War II, Stern became a captain in the US Army working on military newspapers.
[3] During this time he had an idea to write about a talking mule and published Francis in 1946.
He ran the paper until its 1958 merger with the Daily States newspaper.
In 1962, the publisher and businessman Samuel I. Newhouse bought the morning Times-Picayune as well as the afternoon States-Item, which continued to be published separately until they were merged and combined in 1980.