Richard McClure Scarry (1919 - 1994)

Born 5 Jun 1919 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Patricia Joan (Murphy) Scarry — married 8 Sep 1948 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Died 30 Apr 1994 at age 74 in Gstaad, Saanen, Bern, Switzerland

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Biography

Richard Scarry served in the United States Army in World War II
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Richard Scarry is Notable.

From Find a Grave: May 3, 1994 Richard Scarry, 74, Children's Book Author and Illustrator, Dies By ERIC PACE

Richard Scarry, a best-selling author and illustrator of children's books, died on Saturday at Saanen hospital in Gstaad, Switzerland. He was 74 and lived in Gstaad.

The cause was a heart attack, said his son, Richard Jr. of Gstaad.

Mr. Scarry, who was born in Boston and moved to Switzerland in 1968, once wrote: "It's a precious thing to be communicating to children, helping them discover the gift of language and thought. I'm happy to be doing it."

Mr. Scarry's illustrations are noted for being crammed with details that toddlers find enthralling. 100 Million Books

Ole Risom, a former Golden Books and Random House publishing executive who worked with him for years, estimated yesterday that more than 100 million Scarry books have been sold in the United States and other countries.

Robin T. Warner, the publisher of Golden Books, said Mr. Scarry wrote and illustrated more than 250 books over the years. His works were translated into dozens of languages.

Ms. Warner said that "Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever," published in 1965 by Golden Books, has sold 4 million copies and that more than 60 million copies of Golden Books by him have been printed.

"The Busy World of Richard Scarry," an animated television series, began running on the Showtime cable channel and in Canada early this year. Wrote 8 of the Top Sellers

Richard McClure Scarry was born in 1919, studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts from 1939 to 1942, served in the Army and began illustrating books in 1947. He eventually began writing as well.

He was the author of 8 of the top 50 best-selling hardcover children's books of all time, according to a list published in 1989 by Publishers Weekly, the trade publication, excluding foreign and bookclub sales.

Widely read books by Mr. Scarry include "Richard Scarry's Please & Thank You" (Random House, 1973) and "Richard Scarry's Find Your ABC's" (Random House, 1973).

"Half his books are storybooks," his son said yesterday, "and half are educational books, but the educational books always try to get across whatever educational information they have to tell in an amusing and lighthearted way."

In addition to his son, who writes and illustrates children's books as Huck Scarry, Mr. Scarry is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, the former Patricia Murphy; three brothers, John James, Edward and Leo, all of Boston; a sister, Barbara Halton of Holyoke, Mass., and two granddaughters.

Sources

See also:

• Wikipedia: Richard Scarry
• Wikidata: Item Q724817, en:Wikipedia

• "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGR-TTMR : 22 February 2021), Richard McClure Scarry, 1919.
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQRF-Z2M : accessed 31 March 2021), Richard M Scarry, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 460, sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll ; FHL microfilm .
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4VW-WCX : 10 January 2021), Richard Scarry in household of John Scarry, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 15-589, sheet 11A, line 24, family 209, 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 1676.
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JP35-J2Q : 7 January 2021), Richard M Scarry, 30 Apr 1994; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).