Charles Schulz (1922-2000), American comic-strip artist, creator of the comic strip “Peanuts.” Charles Monroe Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and wanted to be a cartoonist from an early age. After graduating from high school, he completed a correspondence course given by a Minneapolis art school, his only formal art training. He served in the closing days of World War II (1939-1945) in Europe, then worked in Saint Paul, Minnesota, teaching at Art Instruction School and lettering cartoons for a religious periodical. During this time Schulz developed his own cartooning and sold his cartoons to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

In 1948 the Saturday Evening Post published some of Schulz’s work, and in 1950 the United Feature Syndicate bought his “Li'l Folks” comic strip and distributed it under the title “Peanuts.” The comic strip, which became his life work, debuted on October 2, 1950. “Peanuts” became one of the most popular comic strips in history, appearing in more than 2,000 newspapers and being translated into more than two dozen languages. Schulz received many awards and honors for his work, including the prestigious Reuben Award given by the National Cartoonists Society, which he won in 1955 and 1964. Licensed products, including his award-winning animated television specials and hundreds of “Peanuts” books, provided most of Schulz's income.

Schulz's drawing style was admired as clean and uncluttered, and his humor was personal, dignified, intelligent, and almost never topical. His characters—including Charlie Brown; his sister, Sally; his dog, Snoopy; friends Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie; and the bird Woodstock—were children with strong, distinct personalities who frequently acted and thought like adults, or animals who acted like humans. Throughout his career Schulz worked without any artistic assistants, unlike most successful syndicated cartoonists. There have been two major retrospectives of his work: one traveling exhibit mounted in 1985 by the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California, and one in 1990 at the Louvre's Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, France.