I was into UFOs as a kid enough to know the name, though not enough to actually read Chariots of the Gods, and I certainly didn't know the author was still alive much less anything about him. Definitely a wild guy!
Erich von Däniken, Who Claimed Aliens Visited Earth, Dies at 90
His 1968 book, “Chariots of the Gods,” sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but one critic called it a “warped parody of reasoning.”
nytimes.com