Mary Sue Whipp (17 June 1931–25 November 2002) and LRH were married from March 1952 to his death on January 24, 1986, and had four children. She was involved in the incorporation of the first Church of Scientology in December 1953.

ERB and Florence Gilbert were married at the Las Vegas court house on April 4, 1935.. They flew back to Los Angeles to board the S.S. Lurline for a 40-day Hawaiian honeymoon at the Royal Hawaiian, Honolulu. Florence had two children by her previous marriage to film producer Ashton Dearholt:  Lee, age six, and Caryl Lee, age four. The couple divorced in May of 1942.

In 1950 LRH embarked from fiction writing to devote his time to extensively researching, writing and lecturing about the human mind and its spiritual nature. The way had been paved by his successful writing career.

The result, in May 1950, was publication of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health which remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 26 weeks. By 1952 his research led him to develop Scientology, an applied religious philosophy. For the next three decades he devoted his life to developing and promoting this philosophy, and establishing its structures.

In 1982 he found time to return to the world of science fiction. The result was a defining and widely acknowledged work, Battlefield Earth, the biggest single science fiction novel ever published -- 428,750 words across over 1,000 pages. He notes in the book's introduction that this was the only novel he ever wrote just to amuse himself. It was a project he undertook to celebrate his fiftieth year as a professonal writer. This epic adventure is a novel of an apolcalyptic future in which mankind has been conquered and its survivors brutalized for centuries by an alien colossus. The novel was a monumental international success and blockbuster bestseller. He followed this with the 10-volume, single story 1.2-million-word science fiction satire, Mission Earth. Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth together dominated North American bestseller lists for 153 weeks. His culminating works of science fiction -- Battlefield Earth and Mission Earth -- blazed new paths in the landscape of modern speculative fiction literature.

L. Ron Hubbard's literary output ultimately encompassed more than 260 published novels, novelletes, short stories and screenplays in every genre.

Mr. Hubbard passed away in 1986, but his literary legacy lives on indelibly in works that continue to reverberate down through generations and millions of readers, making him one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed writers of our time.

Of major interest to fans of LRH is the L. Ron Hubbard Exhibition on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. There are also the L. Ron Hubbard Houses in Washington, D.C., Phoenix, London and Johannesburg, SA. While these former are landmarks meaningful to Scientologists, they also provide facets of his literary legacy.

Over the years LRH has received countless awards -- a recent one was the dedication of a Los Angeles street in his name: L. Ron Hubbard Way.

Galaxy Press, in addition to keeping the LRH novels in print, also reprints many of the his pulp stories in a modern pulp-type format available at all major newstands and bookstores. 

While it would appear that ERB's antipathy towards organized religion and LRH's impetus to start and organize a religion might be paradoxical, ultimately, what they are both questioning are the agreements and mechanisms that chain a person to fears and mindless activity. While ERB skewers clergy, he also provides hope of individual spiritual search. Following his lifetime vocation, LRH, suggested that he found a way out of the spiritual ignorance. After the completion of that work, he returned to enjoy his fiction writing career.

Both men also shared pioneering interest in care of the planet and the environment. Examples abound in Hubbard's work: his plant experiments in the early '60s are actually seminal in the genesis of the awareness of plant care; Mission Earth offers a theoretical solution to the ozone problem and The Way of Happiness, "a common sense moral code," advocates care of the planet.

ERB ws a great populizer of environmental factors who was far ahead of his time in appeals for the preservation of nature and wildlife. Due largely to the iconic characters - Tarzan and John Carter of Mars - created almost 100 years ago, there has never been a time when all or at least a large number of ERB books have been out of print -- and the books are translated into every major language. In fact, in the 1960s there was an unprecedented boom revival of his works. It was a time when one in every twenty paperbacks on newstands were Burroughs titles.

New Tarzan films have appeared regularly since 1918. Tarzan has been reinvented many times and has adapted well to all media in every decade. Disney has promoted the character in many guises: animated films, TV series, merchandising, theme park attractions, and international licensing of "Tarzan the Musical." The character is still alive in book reprints, comics, Sunday pages, computer games, and a new live action film now in preproduction. Tarzan is one of the best-known and widely recognized characters worldwide. The characters from ERB's first novel will soon be featured in a major Pixar release since they are working on a "John Carter and the Princess of Mars" film.

There are major private Burroughs collections found in many countries. The largest institutional collection is the Edgar Rice Burroughs Memorial Collection at the University of Louisville, of which George McWhorter is curator. Mr. McWhorter was also instrumental in reviving the Burroughs Bibliophiles which had originally been organized by Vern Coriell while ERB was still alive. Mr. McWhorter is also publisher of the Burroughs Bulletin, a glossy, fully illustrated 34-page quarterly fanzine as well a monthly newsletter, The Gridley Wave.

The official ERB, Inc. Websites, Web pages and Webzines devoted to the life and works of Edgar Rice Burroughs number over ten thousand -- as far as we know more than those representing any other author on the Internet - past or present.

New York Times Obituary: 
Death Claims Noted Author "Tarzan" Novelist Victim of Illness: Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, 74, creator of the noted fictional figure Tarzan, which has brought him millions in publication and film rights, died yesterday morning at 8:55 a.m. in his Encino home at 5565 Zelzah Ave. Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose own twist on the theory of evolution -- Tarzan -- brought riches that Darwin never dreamed of, is dead. More>>>

March 21 AP ~ News Release Tarzana, Cal.:
Business establishments in this San Fernando Valley community will close for one hour today during the funeral of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the town's founder and creator of the fabulous fictional character, Tarzan. The millionaire author died peacefully at his home Sunday. He was 74. A private funeral will be conducted today at the Tarzana home of a son, John Coleman Burroughs. Cremation will follow. 

Near the end he had said, 

ERB and LRH are among the adventurers, visionaries and artists who have "jolted history along" with their destinies which were, "larger, if not deeper than our own." They have enriched our lives and will continue to do so with their adventurous works.