CHARLES M. SCHULZ

Early life and education

• Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota November 26, 1922 .
• Grew up in Saint Paul .
• He was the only child.
• Parents: Carl Schulz , Dena Halverson
• Attended Richards Gordon Elementary School 

Military service and post-war jobs

• February 1943 mother Dena died after a long illness.
• After that he joined the United States Army.
• Leader on a .50 caliber machine gun team.
• His unit saw combat only at the very end of the war.
• Discharged in late 1945.

career

• Schulz's first regular cartoons, a weekly series of one-panel jokes entitled Li'l Folks
• Published from 1947 to 1950
• In 1948, Schulz sold a cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post.
• First out of 17 one-panel cartoon that would be published there.
• 1950 The first Peanuts strip is published.

shulz's retirement

• In 1999 discovered metastasized colon cancer .
• Announced his retirement on December 14, 1999.
• This was difficult for Schulz, who was quoted:
• "I never dreamed that this was what would happen to me."

death

• Schulz died in Santa Rosa of a heart attack at 9:45 p.m
• February 12/2000, at age of 78.
• He was interred in Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol.
• The last original strip ran the day after his death.

awards

• Humor Comic Strip Award in 1962
• two-time winner of their Reuben Award for 1955 and 1964.
• Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
• June 28, 1996 honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Li'l Folks

• The first comic strip by  Charles M. Schulz.
• Appeared mainly in the St. Paul Pioneer Press
• From June 22, 1947 to January 22, 1950
• Can be regarded as an embryonic version of Peanuts.

Peanuts

• Published daily in 2,600 papers
• 75 countries, in 21 languages.
• 18,000 strips.
• Produced revenues of more than $1 billion per year.
• During the life of the strip, Schulz took only one vacation.   

Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt

• Is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts.
• She is one of a small group in the strip who lives across town from Charlie Brown.
• She has freckles and auburn/brunette hair and generally displays the characteristics of a tomboy.
• Made her first appearance on August 22, 1966.