Charles M . Schulz Charles Monroe Schulz ( November 26 , 1922 – February 12 , 2000 ) , nicknamed Sparky , was an American cartoonist , best known for the comic strip " Peanuts " ( which featured the characters Snoopy and Charlie Brown , among others ) . He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time , cited as a major influence by many later cartoonists . Calvin and Hobbes - creator Bill Watterson wrote in 2007 : " " Peanuts " pretty much defines the modern comic strip , so even now it ' s hard to see it with fresh eyes . The clean , minimalist drawings , the sarcastic humor , the unflinching emotional honesty , the inner thoughts of a household pet , the serious treatment of children , the wild fantasies , the merchandising on an enormous scale - - in countless ways , Schulz blazed the wide trail that most every cartoonist since has tried to follow . " Early life and education . Born in Minneapolis , Minnesota , Schulz grew up in Saint Paul . He was the only child of Carl Schulz , who was born in Germany , and Dena Halverson , who was Norwegian . His uncle called him " Sparky " after the horse Spark Plug in Billy DeBeck ' s comic strip , " Barney Google " . Schulz loved drawing and sometimes drew his family dog , Spike , who ate unusual things , such as pins and tacks . In 1937 , Schulz drew a picture of Spike and sent it to " Ripley ' s Believe It or Not ! " ; his drawing appeared in Robert Ripley ' s syndicated panel , captioned , " A hunting dog that eats pins , tacks and razor blades is owned by C . F . Schulz , St . Paul , Minn . " and " Drawn by ' Sparky ' " ( C . F . was his father , Carl Fred Schulz ) . Schulz attended St . Paul ' s Richards Gordon Elementary School , where he skipped two half - grades . He became a shy , timid teenager , perhaps as a result of being the youngest in his class at Central High School . One well - known episode in his high school life was the rejection of his drawings by his high school yearbook . A five - foot - tall statue of Snoopy was placed in the school ' s main office 60 years later . Military service and post - war jobs . In February 1943 , Schulz ' s mother Dena died after a long illness ; at the time of her death , he had only recently been made aware that she suffered from cancer . Schulz had by all accounts been very close to his mother and her death made a strong impact on him . Around the same time , Schulz was drafted into the United States Army . He served as a staff sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in Europe , as a squad leader on a . 50 caliber machine gun team . His unit saw combat only at the very end of the war . Schulz said that he only ever had one opportunity to fire his machine gun but forgot to load it . Fortunately , he said , the German soldier he could have fired at willingly surrendered . Years later , Schulz proudly spoke of his wartime service . After being discharged in late 1945 , Schulz returned to Minneapolis . He did lettering for a Roman Catholic comic magazine , " Timeless Topix " , and then , in July 1946 , took a job at Art Instruction , Inc . , reviewing and grading lessons submitted by students . Schulz himself had been a student of the school , taking a correspondence course from it before he was drafted . He worked at the school for a number of years while he developed his career as a comic creator , until he was making enough money from comics to be able to do that full - time . Career . Schulz ' s first regular cartoons , a weekly series of one - panel jokes entitled " Li ' l Folks " , were published from 1947 to 1950 by the " St . Paul Pioneer Press " ; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there , although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys as well as one buried in sand . The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy . In 1948 , Schulz sold a cartoon to " The Saturday Evening Post " ; the first out of 17 one - panel cartoons by Schulz that would be published there . In 1948 , he tried to have " Li ' l Folks " syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association . Schulz would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate , unheard of in the 1940s , but the deal fell through . " Li ' l Folks " was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January 1950 . Later that year , Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with the one - panel series " Li ' l Folks " , and the syndicate became interested . However , by that time Schulz had also developed a comic strip , using normally four panels rather than one , and reportedly to Schulz ' s delight , the syndicate preferred this version . " Peanuts " made its first appearance on October 2 , 1950 , in seven newspapers . The weekly Sunday - page debuted on January 6 , 1952 . After a somewhat slow beginning , " Peanuts " eventually became one of the most popular comic strips of all time , as well as one of the most influential . Schulz also had a short - lived sports - oriented comic strip called " It ' s Only a Game " ( 1957 – 1959 ) , but he abandoned it due to the demands of the successful " Peanuts " . From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a single - panel strip ( " Young Pillars " ) featuring teenagers to " Youth " , a publication associated with the Church of God . In 1957 and 1961 he illustrated two volumes of Art Linkletter ' s " Kids Say the Darndest Things " , and in 1964 a collection of letters , " Dear President Johnson " , by Bill Adler . " Peanuts " . At its height , " Peanuts " was published daily in 2 , 600 papers in 75 countries , in 21 languages . Over the nearly 50 years that " Peanuts " was published , Schulz drew nearly 18 , 000 strips . The strips themselves , plus merchandise and product endorsements , produced revenues of more than $ 1 billion per year , with Schulz earning an estimated $ 30 million to $ 40 million annually . During the life of the strip , Schulz took only one vacation , a five - week break in late 1997 to celebrate his 75th birthday ; reruns of the strip ran during his vacation , the only time reruns occurred while Schulz was alive . Schulz said that his routine every morning consisted of first eating a jelly donut , and then going through the day ' s mail with his secretary before sitting down to write and draw the day ' s strip at his studio . After coming up with an idea ( which he said could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours ) , he began drawing it , which took about an hour for dailies and three hours for Sunday strips . Unlike many other successful cartoonists , Schulz never used assistants in producing the strip ; he refused to hire an inker or letterer , saying that " it would be equivalent to a golfer hiring a man to make his putts for him . " The first book collection of " Peanuts " strips was published in July 1952 by Rinehart & Company . Many more books followed , and these collections greatly contributed to the increasing popularity of the strip . In 2004 , Fantagraphics began their " Complete Peanuts " series . " Peanuts " also proved popular in other media ; the first animated TV special , " A Charlie Brown Christmas " , aired in December 1965 and won an Emmy award . Numerous TV specials were to follow , the latest being " Happiness Is A Warm Blanket , Charlie Brown " in 2011 . Until his death , Schulz wrote or cowrote the TV specials and carefully oversaw production of them . Charlie Brown , the principal character for " Peanuts " , was named after a co - worker at the Art Instruction Inc . Schulz drew much more inspiration than this from his own life , some examples being : Influences . The Charles M . Schulz Museum counts Milton Caniff ( " Terry and the Pirates " ) and Bill Mauldin as key influences on Schulz ' s work . In his own strip , Schulz regularly described Snoopy ' s annual Veterans Day visits with Mauldin , including mention of Mauldin ' s World War II cartoons . Schulz ( and critics ) also credited George Herriman ( " Krazy Kat " ) , Roy Crane ( " Wash Tubbs " ) , Elzie C . Segar ( " Thimble Theater " ) and Percy Crosby ( " Skippy " ) among his influences . In a 1994 address to fellow cartoonists , Schulz discussed several of his influences . However , The Charles M . Schulz Museum and Research Center has stated that Schulz watched the movie " Citizen Kane " forty times . The character Lucy van Pelt also expresses a fondness for the film , and in one strip cruelly spoils the ending for her younger brother . Personal life . In 1951 , Schulz moved to Colorado Springs , Colorado . In April the same year , Schulz married Joyce Halverson ( no relation to Schulz ' s mother Dena Halverson Schulz ) . His son , Monte , was born in February the following year , with their three further children being born later , in Minnesota . He painted a wall in that home for his adopted daughter Meredith Hodges , featuring Patty with a balloon , Charlie Brown jumping over a candlestick , and Snoopy playing on all fours . The wall was removed in 2001 and donated to the Charles M . Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa , California . Schulz and his family returned to Minneapolis and stayed until 1958 . They then moved to Sebastopol , California , where Schulz built his first studio ( until then , he ' d worked at home or in a small rented office room ) . It was here that Schulz was interviewed for the unaired television documentary " A Boy Named Charlie Brown " . Some of the footage was eventually used in a later documentary , " Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz " . Schulz ' s father died while visiting him in 1966 , the same year his Sebastopol studio burned down . By 1969 , Schulz had moved to Santa Rosa , California , where he lived and worked until his death . By Thanksgiving 1970 , it was clear that Schulz ' s first marriage was in trouble , and their divorce was final in 1972 . Schulz married Jean Forsyth Clyde in September 1973 ; they ' d first met when Jean brought her daughter to Schulz ' s hockey rink . They remained married for 27 years , until Schulz ' s death in 2000 . Schulz had a long association with ice sports , and both figure skating and ice hockey featured prominently in his cartoons . In Santa Rosa , he was the owner of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena , which opened in 1969 and featured a snack bar called " The Warm Puppy " . Schulz ' s daughter Amy served as a model for the figure skating in the 1980 television special " She ' s a Good Skate , Charlie Brown " . Schulz also was very active in senior ice - hockey tournaments ; in 1975 , he formed Snoopy ' s Senior World Hockey Tournament at his Redwood Empire Ice Arena , and in 1981 , Schulz was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to the sport of hockey in the United States . Schulz also enjoyed playing golf and was a member of the Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club from 1959 to 2000 . In July 1981 , Schulz underwent heart bypass surgery . During his hospital stay , President Ronald Reagan called him on the phone to wish him a quick recovery . On Sunday , May 8 , 1988 , two gunmen wearing ski masks entered the cartoonist ' s home through an unlocked door , planning to kidnap Jean Schulz , but the attempt failed when the couple ' s daughter , Jill , drove up to the house , prompting the would - be kidnappers to flee . She saw what was happening and called the police from a neighbor ' s house . Sonoma County Sheriff Dick Michaelsen said , " It was obviously an attempted kidnap - ransom . This was a targeted criminal act . They knew exactly who the victims were . " Neither Schulz nor his wife was hurt during the incident . In 1998 , Schulz hosted the first Over 75 Hockey Tournament . In 2001 , Saint Paul renamed the Highland Park Ice Arena the Charles M . Schulz Highland Arena in his honor . In addition to his lifelong interest in comics , Schulz was also interested in art in general ; his favorite artist in later years was Andrew Wyeth . As a young adult Schulz also developed a great passion for classical music . Although the character Schroeder in " Peanuts " adored Beethoven , Schulz said in an interview with Gary Groth in 1997 ( published in The Comics Journal # 200 ) that his own favorite classical composer was actually Brahms . Retirement and death . In the 1980s Schulz complained that " sometimes my hand shakes so much I have to hold my wrist to draw . " This led to the erroneous assumption that " Schulz had Parkinson ' s Disease " . However , according to a letter from his physician , placed in the Archives of the Charles M . Schulz Museum by his widow , Schulz had essential tremor , a condition alleviated by beta blocker s . Despite this , Schulz insisted on writing and drawing the strip by himself . However , his decision in 1988 to abandon the strict four - panel format in his daily strips , which he ' d used since Peanuts began , is reported to partly have been an attempt to gain more flexibility , as he then could do some one - panel strips , which took less time to draw than four panels . In November 1999 Schulz suffered several small strokes along with a blocked aorta and later it was discovered that he had colon cancer that had metastasized . Because of the chemotherapy and the fact he could not read or see clearly , he announced his retirement on December 14 , 1999 . This was difficult for Schulz , who was quoted as saying to Al Roker on " The Today Show " , " I never dreamed that this was what would happen to me . I always had the feeling that I would probably stay with the strip until I was in my early eighties . But all of a sudden it ' s gone . It ' s been taken away from me . I did not take this away from me . " Schulz was asked if , for his final " Peanuts " strip , Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that certain football after so many decades ( one of the many recurring themes in " Peanuts " was Charlie Brown ' s attempts to kick a football while Lucy was holding it ; Lucy , of course , always pulled it back at the last moment , causing Charlie Brown to fall on his back ) . His response : " Oh , no ! Definitely not ! I " couldn ' t " have Charlie Brown kick that football ; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century . " Yet , in a December 1999 interview , holding back tears , he recounted the moment when he signed the panel of his final strip , saying , “ All of a sudden I thought , ' You know , that poor , poor kid , he never even got to kick the football . What a dirty trick — he never had a chance to kick the football ! ' ” Schulz died in his sleep at home on February 12 , 2000 at around 9 : 45 pm , from complications arising from his colon cancer . The last original " Peanuts " strip was published the very next day , on Sunday , February 13 . Schulz had previously predicted that the strip would outlive him , with his reason being that his comic strips were usually drawn weeks before their publication . Schulz was buried at Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol , California . As part of his will , Schulz requested that the " Peanuts " characters remain as authentic as possible and that no new comic strips based on them be drawn . United Features had legal ownership of the strip , but honored his wishes , instead syndicating reruns of the strip to newspapers . New television specials have also been produced since Schulz ' s death , however the stories are based on previous strips , and Schulz always stated that " Peanuts " TV shows were entirely separate from the strip . Schulz was posthumously honored on May 27 , 2000 , by cartoonists of more than 100 comic strips , who paid homage to him and " Peanuts " by incorporating his characters into their comic strips on that date . Awards . Schulz received the National Cartoonists Society ' s Humor Comic Strip Award in 1962 for " Peanuts " , the Society ' s Elzie Segar Award in 1980 , and was also the first two - time winner of their Reuben Award for 1955 and 1964 , and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 . He was also an avid hockey fan ; in 1981 , Schulz was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States , and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993 . On June 28 , 1996 , Schulz was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , adjacent to Walt Disney ' s . A replica of this star appears outside his former studio in Santa Rosa . Schulz is a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award , the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America , for his service to American youth . A proponent of manned space flight , Schulz was honored with the naming of Apollo 10 command module Charlie Brown , and lunar module Snoopy , launched on May 18 , 1969 . On January 1 , 1974 , Schulz served as the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena , California . On February 10 , 2000 , Congressman Mike Thompson introduced H . R . 3642 , a bill to award Schulz the Congressional Gold Medal , the highest civilian honor the United States legislature can bestow . The bill passed the House ( with only Ron Paul voting no and 24 not voting ) on February 15 , and the bill was sent to the Senate where it passed unanimously on May 2 . The Senate also considered the related bill , S . 2060 ( introduced by Dianne Feinstein ) . President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on June 20 , 2000 . On June 7 , 2001 , Schulz ' s widow Jean accepted the award on behalf of her late husband in a public ceremony . Schulz was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007 . Biographies . Biographies have been written about Schulz , including Rheta Grimsley Johnson ' s " Good Grief : The Story of Charles M . Schulz " ( 1989 ) , which was authorized by Schulz . The lengthiest biography , " Schulz and Peanuts : A Biography " by David Michaelis ( 2007 ) , has been heavily criticized by the Schulz family , with son Monte stating it has " a number of factual errors throughout . . . [ including ] factual errors of interpretation " and extensively documenting these errors in a number of essays ; for his part , Michaelis maintains that there is " no question " his work is accurate . Although cartoonist Bill Watterson ( creator of " Calvin & Hobbes " ) feels that the biography does justice to Schulz ' s legacy , while giving insight into the emotional impetus of the creation of the strips , cartoonist and critic R . C . Harvey regards the book as falling short both in describing Schulz as a cartoonist and in fulfilling Michaelis ' stated aim of " understanding how Charles Schulz knew the world " , feeling the biography bends the facts to a thesis rather than evoking a thesis from the facts . A review of Michaelis ' biography by Dan Shanahan in the " American Book Review " ( vol 29 , no . 6 ) faults the biography not for factual errors , but for " a predisposition " to finding problems in Schulz ' s life to explain his art , regardless of how little the material lends itself to Michaelis ' interpretations . Shanahan cites , in particular , such things as Michaelis ' crude characterizations of Schulz ' s mother ' s family , and " an almost voyeuristic quality " to the hundred pages devoted to the breakup of Schulz ' s first marriage . In light of David Michaelis ' biography and the controversy surrounding his interpretation of the personality that was Charles Schulz , responses from his family reveal some intimate knowledge about the Schulz ' s persona beyond that of mere artist . Legacy . When the Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota opened in 1992 , the Amusement Park in the center of the Mall was themed around Schulz ' " Peanuts " characters , until the Mall lost the rights to use the branding in 2006 . In 2000 , the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors renamed the county airport as the Charles M . Schulz - Sonoma County Airport in his honor . The airport ' s logo features Snoopy in goggles and scarf , taking to the skies on top of his red doghouse . The Charles M . Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa opened on August 17 , 2002 , two blocks away from his former studio , celebrating his life ' s work and art of cartooning . A bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy stands in Depot Park in downtown Santa Rosa . The Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center at Sonoma State University is one of the largest libraries in the CSU system and the state of California , with a 400 , 000 - volume general collection and with a 750 , 000 - volume automated retrieval system capacity . The $ 41 . 5 million building was named after Schulz , and his wife donated $ 5 million needed to build and furnish the structure . The library opened in 2000 and now stands as one of the largest buildings in the university . Peanuts on Parade has been St . Paul , Minnesota ’ s tribute to its favorite native cartoonist . It began in 2000 with the placing of 101 statues of Snoopy throughout the city of St . Paul . Every summer for the next four years , statues of a different " Peanuts " character were placed on the sidewalks of St . Paul . In 2001 , there was Charlie Brown Around Town , 2002 brought Looking for Lucy , then in 2003 along came Linus Blankets St . Paul , ending in 2004 with Snoopy lying on his doghouse . The statues were auctioned off at the end of each summer , so some remain around the city , but others have been relocated . The auction proceeds were used for artists ' scholarships and for permanent , bronze statues of the Peanuts characters . These bronze statues are in Landmark Plaza and Rice Park in downtown St . Paul . Santa Rosa , CA celebrated the 60th anniversary of the strip in 2005 by continuing the Peanuts on Parade tradition beginning with It ' s Your Town Charlie Brown ( 2005 ) , Summer of Woodstock ( 2006 ) , Snoopys Joe Cool Summer ( 2007 ) & Look Out For Lucy ( 2008 ) In 2006 , " Forbes " ranked Schulz as the third highest - earning deceased celebrity , having earned $ 35 million in the previous year . In 2009 , he was ranked 6th . According to Tod Benoit in his book " Where Are They Buried ? How Did They Die ? " , Charles M . Schulz ' s income during his lifetime totaled more than $ 1 . 1 billion . Religion . Schulz often touched on religious themes in his work , including the classic television cartoon , " A Charlie Brown Christmas " ( 1965 ) , which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible to explain " what Christmas is all about . " In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side . Schulz , reared in the Lutheran faith , had been active in the Church of God as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church . In the 1960s , Robert L . Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in " Peanuts " as being consistent with parts of Christian theology , and used them as illustrations during his lectures about the gospel , as he explained in his bestselling paperback book , " The Gospel According to Peanuts " , the first of several books he wrote on religion and " Peanuts " , and other popular culture items . From the late 1980s , however , Schulz described himself in interviews as a " secular humanist " :