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Francine Pascal pictured in New York on April 13, 2011.
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Francine Pascal, a onetime soap opera writer whose “Sweet Valley High” novels and the ongoing adventures of twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and other teens captivated millions of young readers, has died at age 92.
Pascal died Sunday, her publisher, Penguin Random House, said. It did not immediately have additional information Tuesday.
Starting in 1983, Francine Pascal oversaw the completion of more than 150 “Sweet Valley High” stories with the help of others. They were set in an imaginary Los Angeles suburb, one of “gently rolling hills” and a “fantastic white sand beach” nearby. In best sellers such as “Double Love,” “Power Play” and “All Night Long,” the Wakefield girls and their schoolmates navigate dating, family conflicts, sibling rivalries, more troubling themes such as race, divorce and mortality and even vampires and werewolves.
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“Sweet Valley is the essence of high school,” Pascal told People magazine in 1988. “It’s that moment before reality hits, when you really do believe in the romantic values — sacrifice, love, loyalty, friendship — before you get jaded and slip off into adulthood.”
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The lives of the Wakefield twins at Sweet Valley High also spawned a TV series which ran for four years from 1994.
Her books sold more than 200 million copies, and included “Sweet Valley” spinoffs and sequels. After the initial novels took off, Pascal brought in outside writers, providing them general outlines and a “bible” of the books’ characters.
“It was mostly very young, new writers,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. “The story outlines weren’t chapter by chapter, more like acts: You get from here to here in the first quarter, then you have to get from here to here. Don’t forget, they already had the bible, where I had written deeply into the lives of the twins and their backgrounds. With the characters, you knew what they liked, you knew what the walls in their room (looked like), every single thing about them.”
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Donald Payne Jr., a Democrat who represented New Jersey's 10th District, died at the age of 65, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on April 24. Payne had served in Congress since 2012, when he won a special election to succeed his late father.
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Terry Anderson, the former Mideast correspondent for the Associated Press who was kidnapped in 1985 and held captive for nearly seven years in Lebanon, died on April 21, his daughter told CNN. He was 76.
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Mohammad Faris, Syria's only astronaut, died April 19 from complications of a heart attack he suffered a month earlier, according to a close friend who spoke to CNN over the phone. Faris, known as the "Armstrong of the Arab World," was 72.
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Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on "American Idol" in 2006, died at the age of 47, according to a statement on her verified social media on April 19. The cause of death was not immediately available.
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Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney died at the age of 84, according to Canadian media reports citing his daughter's social media post on February 29.
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Kenneth Mitchell, an actor who appeared in the series "Star Trek: Discovery" and Marvel's "Captain Marvel," died at the age of 49, his family announced in a statement on February 25. Mitchell was diagnosed with ALS in 2018.
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Chris Gauthier, an actor whose credits include "Once Upon a Time," "Eureka" and several popular Hallmark Channel projects, died on February 23, according to a statement posted by his agent. The 48-year-old died "after a brief illness," the statement said.
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Charles "Lefty" Driesell, who coached college basketball for more than four decades, died February 17 at the age of 92, according to a statement from James Madison University, where Driesell coached from 1988 to 1997. Driesell also coached at Davidson College, the University of Maryland and Georgia State University.
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Bob Edwards, the longtime National Public Radio host and a goliath of the broadcasting world, died on February 10, his wife, NPR reporter Windsor Johnston, confirmed in a Facebook post. He was 76.
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Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera died in a helicopter crash in Chile, his office said in a statement on February 6. Piñera, 74, was Chile's president from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
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Country singer Toby Keith died February 5 after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62. Keith was known for hits including "Red Solo Cup" and "I Wanna Talk About Me." His 2002 song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," released in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, made him a household name.
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Actor Carl Weathers, who came to fame as Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" movies and proceeded to appear in dozens of movies and TV shows from "Predator" to "The Mandalorian," died on February 1, according to his manager Matt Luber. Weathers was 76.
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Jean Carnahan, who became the first woman to represent Missouri in the US Senate after she was appointed to replace her husband following his death, died Tuesday, January 30. She was 90.
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Chita Rivera, an iconic performer of stage and screen with credits including "Chicago," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Sweet Charity," died on January 30. She was 91. Rivera's longtime publicist Merle Frimark confirmed the news to CNN, saying Rivera died "in New York after a brief illness."
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Melanie Safka, the singer who went by the mononym Melanie, died on January 23, according to Billy James of Glass Onyon PR. She was 76. Melanie performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and was famous for songs including "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and "Brand New Key."
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Former CBS journalist Charles Osgood died January 23, at his home in New Jersey, CBS News reported. He was 91. Osgood was best known as the anchor of the network's venerable "CBS Sunday Morning" program from 1994 to 2016, succeeding original host Charles Kuralt.
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Italian soccer great Luigi "Gigi" Riva died January 22 at the age of 79, according to the Italian Football Federation. Riva is Italy's all-time leading goalscorer.
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Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr., died after a battle with prostate cancer, according to statements from his family and the King Center on January 22. He was 62.
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Norman Jewison, an Oscar-nominated director whose diverse resume included "In the Heat of the Night" and "Fiddler on the Roof," died on January 20, according to his publicist. He was 97.
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Mary Weiss, a singer who was part of the 1960s girl group the Shangri-Las, died, Miriam Linna of Norton Records confirmed to Rolling Stone on January 19. She was reportedly 75 years old.
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Canadian world champion pole vaulter Shawn Barber died January 17 at the age of 29, his agent Paul Doyle told CNN. Barber passed away from medical complications, according to a statement from the University of Akron's athletics department. "Barber had fallen ill and had been experiencing poor health for some time," the statement said.
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Actor Bill Hayes, who was a mainstay on the NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives" for more than 50 years, died on January 12, his agent confirmed in an email. He was 98.
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Actor Adan Canto, known for his roles in TV shows "The Cleaning Lady" and "Designated Survivor," died of appendiceal cancer on January 8, according to his publicist Jennifer Allen. He was 42.
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German soccer icon Franz Beckenbauer, widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game, died on January 7, according to the German football federation. He was 78.
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Soccer icon Mário Zagallo, a four-time World Cup winner with Brazil as a player and coach, died at the age of 92, a post on his official Instagram account announced on January 6.
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David Soul, best known for his role in the popular 1970s television series "Starsky & Hutch" died on January 4, his wife announced in a statement to CNN. He was 80.
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Glynis Johns, the British actress known for her role as feminist icon Mrs. Banks in 1964's "Mary Poppins," died on January 4, her longtime manager Mitch Clem told CNN. She was 100. Johns' career as a film, TV and stage actor spanned nearly nine decades.
Born Francine Paula Rubin, Pascal was a New York City native who studied journalism at New York University, wrote for such magazines as Cosmopolitan and Ladies’ Home Journal and, with second husband John Pascal, found work with the soap opera “The Young Marrieds.” When Francine Pascal began thinking of creating her own series, she took a friend’s advice and developed what became the Sweet Valley books.
The concept: “Dallas” for young people. The main characters: twin sisters, one mischievous (Jessica), the other more sensible (Elizabeth).
“There are a lot of twins in my life,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “My sister-in-law was a twin. People are always fascinated by twins. You’ll never be alone.”
Pascal and her first husband, Jerome Offenberg, divorced in 1963. They had three daughters, one of whom, Jamie, died in 2008. John Pascal died in 1981.