Books Illustration Obituary

Charles Santore – RIP

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D. D. Degg August 19, 2019 1 minute 0 comments

Famed Illustrator Charles Santore has passed away.

Charles Santore
March 16, 1935 – August 11, 2019

From the Philadelphia Inquirer obituary:

He began his career in 1956 working as a freelance illustrator for local advertising agencies and publications such as the Saturday Evening Post, Life, Redbook, and the Ladies’ Home Journal.

Starting in 1972, he illustrated magazine covers for TV Guide. His first cover, depicting Peter Falk as the shambling TV detective Columbo, brought him national acclaim.

From Publishers Weekly obituary:

Philadelphia-based Running Press approached Santore about doing a children’s book in the mid-1980s, and the resulting project was his rendition of The Classic Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Cherished Stories. From that point, he entered a fruitful period as a children’s book illustrator, a pursuit he ultimately preferred to commercial illustration. “An advertisement runs in a magazine today,” Santore told Communication Arts, “and someone wraps fish in it the next day. With a book, you know it’s going to be around.”