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(CNN) - Christopher Tolkien, the son of the author of "The Lord of the Rings" JRR Tolkien, died, the Tolkien Society announced Thursday. He was 95 years old.
Tolkien was his father's literary executor and edited much of the author's work published posthumously after his death in 1973, including "The Silmarillion."
But many fans will also be familiar with Tolkien's detailed maps of Middle-earth, the scene of the series "The Lord of the Rings", which readers have mentioned over the years while traveling alongside the hobbit Frodo Baggins in his Search to destroy the ring.
"Christopher's commitment to his father's works has seen dozens of publications, and his own work as an academic in Oxford demonstrates his qualities as a specialist," said Tolkien Society President Shaun Gunner in a statement. "We have lost a titan and we will miss it."
Born in Leeds, England, on November 21, 1924, Christopher Tolkien grew up in Oxford. According to the Tolkien Society, he joined the Royal Air Force during World War II and was stationed in South Africa.
He was an accomplished academic in his own right, according to the Tolkien Society, and professor at the University of Oxford.
But Tolkien was best known as the distinguished expert in his father's work and the tradition that accompanied him.
After the death of his father, Christopher Tolkien began working on his manuscripts and helped publish "The Silmarillion," which chronicles the origins of Middle-earth and its people. He continued editing other Tolkien stories in 2018.
"Tolkien's studies would never be what they are today without the contribution of Christopher Tolkien," said scholar Dimitra Fimi in the Tolkien Society statement. "From the edition of 'The Silmarillion' to the gigantic task of giving us the series 'History of Middle-earth', he revealed his father's great vision of a rich and complex mythology."
According to editor HarperCollins, Tolkien edited or supervised the publication of 24 editions of his father's works.
"Christopher was a devoted curator of his father's work and the eternal and constant popularity of the world that JRR Tolkien created is an appropriate testimony of the decades that took Middle Earth to generations of readers," said Charlie Redmayne, executive director of Haper Collins, United Kingdom. "The most charming of men, and a true gentleman, was an honor and a privilege to meet him and work with him, and our thoughts are with his family at this time."
The statement says that Christopher Tolkien began helping his father at age 5 by listening to stories before going to bed and picking up inconsistencies. His father also paid him for every mistake he found in "The Hobbit."
JRR Tolkien