Peanuts Creator Dead at 77

Charles Schulz, creator of the world-famous Peanuts comic strip over 50 years ago, died of undisclosde causes this past Saturday in his home, 50 miles north of San Francisco, in Santa Rosa, California. He was 77 years old.

Schulz shocked his fans last November with the announcement that he would be retiring from the comic strip business this February. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer, and had reportedly chosen to retire and dedicate himself to beating the disease. Ironically, this Sunday’s Peanuts strip is the last one he intended to run.

Schulz’s adult son, Monte, was quoted as saying that perhaps retirement was too much for his father to handle: "I think maybe he decided that his true passion was in the strip, and when that was gone, it was over."

Despite the enormous success of his comic strip, Schulz struggled with depression and anxiety, according to his biographer, Rheta Grimsley Johnson. But the struggle only improved his work, she found, as he poured those feelings of rejection and uncertainty into the strip and turned Charlie Brown into an Everyman.

Schulz’s firsthand knowledge of life’s ups and downs enriched his art, and his fans’ lives. He will be missed.

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