Charles Monroe Schulz (1922 - 2000)

Ancestors Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Personal Life 1.2 The Cartoonist 1.3 Life Outside Peanuts 2 Sources

Biography

Charles Schulz was the creator of the famous comic strip "Peanuts."^[1]

Personal Life

Charles Monroe Schulz, the only child of Carl Schulz, a German barber (like Charlie Brown's father)^[2][3][1][4] and Norwegian-born Dena (Halverson) Schulz, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 26, 1922.^{[5][3][4][6][7][1][8]}

The Schulz family lived in Needles, California and St. Paul, Minnesota while Charles was young.^[9][3]

Charles acquired his nickname "Sparky" from the horse Spark Plug in the comic strip "Barney Google."^[1][4][2]

Like his character, Charlie Brown, Charles also had an eccentric black and white dog. His was named Spike.^[1][4]

Charles served in France and Germany during World War II, from 1943 to 1945.^[1][4][5][8] He attained the rank of staff sergeant in the 20th Armoured Division.^[1] He would return on leave briefly to say goodbye to his mother, who died of cervical cancer in 1943.^[2] Charles ended up a war buff, much like his Snoopy character, and helped with a fundraising campaign for the National D-Day Memorial.^[1]

Charles married divorcee Joyce Halverson on April 18, 1951.^[10][1][2] Joyce had one child when she met Charles, Meredith, whom he would adopt as his own.^[11][2] They had four children together: Charles Jr-called Monte^[2], Craig^[12], Amy Johnson^[13], and Jill Schulz Transki^[14].^[1] Charles and Joyce's marriage ended in divorce in December 1972 following Charles' affair with a newspaper assistant.^[15][1][2] A year later he met Jeannie Clyde at his ice rink, and soon married her.^[1] Jean remained his wife and companion until his death. ^[1][5] She brought two step-children to his family, Brooke Clyde and Lisa Brockway.^[1] He also has numerous grandchildren.^[1]

On February 12, 2000, Charles Schulz died in his sleep at his home in Santa Rosa, California.^[1][5][8] He was buried in the Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol, California in the Veterans Section.^[16] His death was the result of colon cancer, and had come following a series of debilitating strokes.^[6][7][1][8]

Private services were held at Pleasant Hill Park, Sebastapol, California.^[5] A public service was held 21 February 2000 at Luther Burbank Center, Santa Rosa, California.^[5]

The Cartoonist

Charles Schulz had an incredibly successful career as a cartoonist, one of the wealthiest ever.^[2][5] He earned about $30 million to $40 million annually in the years leading up to his death.^[1] At the peak of his success, Peanuts reached 75 countries, 2600 newspapers, and 21 languages each day.^[1][4][8] Charles had drawn 18,250 comics over his 50 plus years as an artist.^[1]

Charles Schulz had aspired to be a cartoonist from a young age, and began practicing by drawing Popeye.^[1][2] Like his character Peppermint Pattie, he flunked several of his high school classes, but his future had already shaping up as “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” accepted one of his drawings of his dog, Spike, when he was 15.^[1]

After high school, he took a correspondence course from Art Instruction Inc.^[2], but was drafted into the army before he was able to begin his cartooning career.^[1]

Careers don’t usually start full blown; Charles Schulz’s was no different.^[17] He spent time doing various odd jobs: grocery store clerk, lettering comics at the Catholic magazine, Timeless Topix; selling occasional cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post; teaching for Art Instruction Inc.; and drawing a weekly strip called “Li’l Folks", a precursor to "Peanuts".^{[1][4][17][2][8]}

In 1949, he submitted a few of the "Li'l Folks" strips to United Feature Syndicate.^[1] Although United liked the strip, they didn’t want to use the name due to its similarity to another strip at the time, and insisted on calling it "Peanuts".^[1][4] Mr. Schulz once said “I was very upset with the title, and still am.”^[1][4][2][8]

On October 2, 1950, the first ‘Peanuts’ strip was published^{[2][1][4][18][8]} It ran in seven newspapers that year.^[1] By 1953, the cartoon was a major success and Mr. Schulz had gone from earning $90 a week that first year, to $30,000 yearly.^[1]

First Peanuts Comic Strip

In 1955 and again in 1964, the National Cartoonists Society awarded Mr. Schulz the Reuben for being the outstanding cartoonist of the year.^[1][8] He received the Yale Humor Award in 1956 and the School Bell Award from the National Education Association in 1960.^[1] His characters made the cover of Time Magazine in 1965.^[19] He was voted International Cartoonist of the Year by 700 cartooning peers in 1978.^[8]

The cartoon only got more successful, branching into all areas, including series of books, television, movies, music, and musicals.^[1][2] He always insisted on drawing the strip himself, even in the final years when he drew with a hand tremor.^[1] He had continued it following quadruple bypass heart surgery in 1981, and had only taken a break for a few weeks for his 75th birthday in 1997 at the insistence of United Feature.^[1] He finally stopped drawing permanently when he received the diagnosis of colon cancer following an abdominal surgery in November 1999.^[1][8] His last daily strip was January 3, 2000, and his last Sunday strip ran the day after he died.^[1]

Charlie Brown

Schulz had also set the stage for cashing in on merchandising of cartoons and comic strips, with 20,000 new items merchandised with Peanuts characters each year by 1999.^[1] He personally signed on or off of each idea.^[1][2] He was a pioneer in the area, and was inducted into the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association Hall of Fame in 1994.^[1] He believed comics were in place to sell newspapers, so allowing those characters to sell other things as well just made sense.^[1]

Life Outside Peanuts

Although the world of "Peanuts" and Charles Schulz were intertwined^[1][4][2], he wasn’t just his comic strip. He loved ice hockey and owned his own ice skating rink, building a new one after the local one closed.^[1][4][8] He was also a skilled golfer.^[2] He was “beloved in life by family and community, venerated by his peers, admired by countless friends ... resident of Sonoma County for forty-one years. Lover of books, music, painting, athletics. A good and decent man. A loving husband, a wise and compassionate father to five children and two stepchildren.”^[5] He instilled in his children “the value of caring, honesty, confidence, truth, and more than anything a sense of how to appreciate life.”^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42} Boxer, Sarah, "Charles M. Schulz, 'Peanuts" Creator, Dies at 77", The New York Times, 14 Feb 2000. Accessed 3 April 2017.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16} Updike, John, "Sparky from St. Paul: A Biography of Charles Schulz", The New Yorker, 22 Oct 2007. Accessed 3 April 2017.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KSL2-ZZX : accessed 3 April 2017), Charles M Schulz in household of Carl F Schulz, Ward 11, St. Paul, St. Paul City, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 90-269, sheet 8A, line 3, family 166, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2003.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11} "20 Things You Didn't Know About Charles Schulz", HuffingtonPost.com 26 November 2013. Accessed 3 April 2017.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7} "Arizona, Payson, Obituaries, 1948-2008," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2W7-D8HS : accessed 18 March 2017), Charles Monroe Or Sparky Schulz, 2000; citing Santa Rosa, Pima, Arizona, United States, The Arizona Republic newspaper, Pheonix; Payson Roundup newspapers and Northern Gila County Genealogy Society Library, Payson; FHL microfilm 101,023,141.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Charles M. Schulz: Official Obituary February 13, 2000
8. ↑ ^{8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11} GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/10FF70BC8B17CC48 : accessed 3 April 2017), 'Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz dies as "Peanuts" era draws to close.'
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC66-SCL : accessed 3 April 2017), Charles Schulz in household of Carl F Schulz, Needles, San Bernardino, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 35, sheet 16B, line 97, family 473, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 188; FHL microfilm 2,339,923.
10. ↑ http://schulzmuseum.org/timeline/#!/1950
11. ↑ "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VCN5-DR5 : 6 May 2014), Charles Monroe Schulz in entry for Meredith Sue Schulz, 05 Feb 1950; from "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2004); citing Hennepin, Minnesota, United States, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis.
12. ↑ "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VC23-HRH : 6 May 2014), Charles Monroe Schulz in entry for Craig Frederick Schulz, 22 Jan 1953; from "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2004); citing Hennepin, Minnesota, United States, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis.
13. ↑ "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VCGV-727 : 6 May 2014), Charles Monroe Schulz in entry for Amy Louise Schulz, 05 Aug 1956; from "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2004); citing Hennepin, Minnesota, United States, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis.
14. ↑ "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VC5H-1FT : 6 May 2014), Charles Monroe Schulz in entry for Jill Marie Schulz, 20 Apr 1958; from "Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2004); citing Hennepin, Minnesota, United States, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis.
15. ↑ "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPYY-16N : 15 May 2014), Joyce S Halverson and Charles M Schulz, Dec 1972; from "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Sonoma, California, Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
16. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 13 January 2021), memorial page for Charles Schulz (26 Nov 1922–12 Feb 2000), Find A Grave: Memorial #8520, citing Pleasant Hills Cemetery, Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} Bang, Derrick, "Charles M. Schulz: The Early Days", FiveCentsPlease.org, accessed 3 April 2017.
18. ↑ Turner, Paul, "Peanuts Anniversary", The Slice, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, 2 Oct 2014. Accessed 3 April 2017.
19. ↑ Time Magazine Cover Vol. 88 no 15, April 9, 1965

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q298920
• Wikipedia:Charles_M._Schulz
• Youtube: Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
• Youtube: Charles Shulz Interview on Charlie Rose
• Youtube: Charles Shulz Speaking at UCLA 1971
• Dick Cavett - Charles Schulz interview 1978
• Read today's Peanuts Comic strip
• Peanuts Characters
• Fan Site
• Several different obituaries and memorials