Kim Peek

The autistic savant, Kim Peek has died at the age of 58. Kim, who inspired the Oscar-winning film “Rain Man” had suffered a major heart on Saturday. He died at a hospital in his hometown Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1951 when Mr. Kim born then he was diagnosed as mentally retarded. Doctors advised his parents to placed him in an institute and forget about him because for them he was an autistic. But thirty five years later Kim was classified as “mega-savant”.

He was a not only a genius in about 15 different subjects but also a real mixture of disability and genius. Kim’s abilities inspired the writer Barry Morrow to write “Rain Man”. Film “Rain Man” won four Academy Awards. In 1975 when his parents divorced Kim’s father Fran Peek Became his sole carer.

In 1987 Dustin Hoffman, who played Kim’s role in “Rain Man” met Fran Peek and Kim Peek. Fran Peek said about his meeting with Dustin Hoffman:

“Dustin Hoffman said to me, you have to promise me one thing about this guy, share him with the world. And pretty soon it got so that nobody was a stranger to him, they were people, and so was he”.