Ohio ? Ray Browne, an Ohio university professor who was credited with coining the phrase “popular culture” and pioneering the study of things such as bumper stickers and cartoons, has died. He was 87.

Browne died at his home Thursday, according to his family and officials at Bowling Green State University.

He developed the first academic department devoted to studying what he called the “people’s culture” at Bowling Green in 1973.

Browne wrote and edited more than 70 books on popular culture — including “The Guide to United States Popular Culture,” published in 2001.

“Culture is everything from the food we’ve always eaten to the clothes we’ve always worn,” he said in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press.

While many in the field credit Browne with coming up the name “popular culture,” no one could say for sure whether he originated it. He said he made a mistake in 1967 when he first used the phrase.

“If I had called it everyday culture or Democratic culture, it would not have been so sharply criticized,” he said.