Charles Schultz & Charlie Brown - 1956

Photo of Charles Schultz, creator of the popular comic strip Peanuts, drawing his favorite character Charlie Brown. Peanuts first appeared on October 2nd, 1950 and the final appearance was on Saturday, February 12, 2000.

While Charlie Brown was actually named after a co-worker at the Art Instruction School, Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz have a lot in common, including, both had a father who was a barber and mother who was a stay at home housewife, they both were shy and withdrawn, both were in love with a red-haired girl who turned them down, and various characters were named after Charles Schulz family and friends.

On a sad note, both Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz died within two hours from each other. Charles knew that he was getting sick so retired in December of 1999 and asked his publishers to discontinue the series after his death. During retirement, Charles continued to produce enough Sunday comic strips to last through mid-February of 2000. Two hours after Charles Schulz died, the final Peanuts comic-strip was published.