Complex sentence: Marvin Lionel Bender (1934--2008) was an American author and co-author of several books, publications and essays regarding African languages, particularly from Ethiopia and Sudan.
Split into simpler sentences: Marvin Lionel Bender (1934--2008) was an American author linguist. Bender wrote and co-wrote several books, publications and essays on the Languages of Africa, particularly those spoken in Ethiopia and Sudan.