Oscar-winning British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard dies at 88

Iconic playwright Sir Tom Stoppard has died surrounded by his family according to a statement released by his agents on Saturday.

Stoppard who won both an Oscar and Golden Globe for his screenplay "Shakespeare in Love", had a prolific career spanning over sixty years. 

"He will be remebered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and profound love of the English laguage.

It was an honour to work with Tom and know him" the statement read. 

Stoppard was born Tomas Straussler on July 3, 1937 in what was then Czechoslovakia, the son of Eugen Straussler, a doctor, and Marta (or Martha), née Beckova, who had trained as a nurse.

The Jewish family fled the Nazis and moved to Singapore when he was an infant.

Singapore in turn became unsafe. With his mother and elder brother Peter, he escaped to India. His father stayed behind and died while fleeing after Singapore fell to the Japanese.

In India, Marta Straussler married a British army major, Kenneth Stoppard, and the family moved to England.

His final play, "Leopoldstadt", first performed in 2020, follows the story of a Jewish family in Vienna inspired by his own history.

Stoppard's career flourished for decades more, embracing stage, screen and radio, and demonstrating his thirst to tackle any subject - from mathematics to Dadaist art to landscape gardening.

Other award-winning plays by Stoppard include Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing and Travesties. In 1997, he was knighted for his contributions to theatre.

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