Dewey Readmore Books, the cat that became a mascot for the city's library after being found in a book drop, has died. Dewey was 19.

The beloved cat died Wednesday in the arms of librarian Vicki Myron.

Dewey had been experiencing health problems recently and was diagnosed with a stomach tumor in mid-November just before his 19th birthday. The cat had a fondness for cheeseburgers, boiled ham and chicken garlic TV dinners, Myron said.

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REMEMBERING DEWEY

The temperature was minus 10 when Myron and another librarian found Dewey under a pile of books in the library's book drop when they came to work one morning in January 1988.

"We didn't know if someone abandoned him or if a Good Samaritan found him on the street and shoved him in the book drop to get him out of the cold," she said. "His paws were frozen. We warmed him up and fed him and he just purred and cuddled. From day one, we felt he'd be the right personality for the public."

Dewey's name was chosen in a local contest to name him shortly after he was found. He was named after the Dewey Decimal System, a system used in most libraries to catalog books.

TV crews came from as far away as Japan to do stories about him. Myron said she has found 222 "hits" for Dewey on the Internet search engine "Google."

Library employee Kim Peterson said the staff is talking about having Dewey cremated and burying his ashes at the library.

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