Real life ‘Rain Man’ dies at 58

A gifted savant with an extraordinary memory who inspired author Barry Morrow to write the book “Rain Man” is dead at 58.

Kim Peek, was said to be whiz kid in subjects that included history, literature, geography, sports, numbers, and dates but, strangely enough, had limited motor skills that even dressing himself up became a problem.

“Rain Man” was made into a movie with the same title in 1988 and it introduced people to a rare but amazing disorder called savant syndrome.

The most common behaviors demonstrated by people with the syndrome are obsessive preoccupations with trivia (facts about U.S. presidents, for example), license plate numbers, maps, or obscure items. Others have outstanding mathematical skills, such as being able to perform complex calculations within a few seconds.

“It was just unbelievable, all the things that he knew,” Fran Peek, the father, said. “He traveled 5,500 miles short of 3 million air miles and talked to nearly 60 million people — half have been students.”