Linus Albert Maurer (January 15, 1926 – January 29, 2016) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, illustrator and

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

designer. He worked as the editorial cartoonist for the '' Sonoma Index-Tribune'', a California newspaper, for more than 25 years. Maurer also authored and created several syndicated

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s, including "Old Harrigan" during the 1960s and "Abracadabra" during the 1970s, which were published nationwide. Additionally, Maurer created and authored newspaper puzzles, including "Challenger," a number puzzle which was published by

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

twenty times per month. Linus Maurer was the namesake for the character Linus van Pelt, in Charles M. Schulz's ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

'' comic strip. Maurer and Schulz had been classmates at Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and remained lifelong friends. Both men also worked together at the Art Instruction Schools Inc. in Minneapolis while Schulz was creating ''Peanuts''. Schulz would name Linus van Pelt, who is known for his blue

security blanket A comfort object, more formally a transitional object or attachment object, is an item used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or unique situations, or at bedtime for children. Among toddlers, a comfort object often takes th ...

in the ''Peanuts'' comic strip, after his friend and colleague. He would later write in a book marking the 50th anniversary of ''Peanuts'', "Linus came from a drawing that I made one day of a face almost like the one he now has...I experimented with some wild hair, and showed the sketch to a friend of mine who sat near me at art instruction, whose name was Linus Maurer. It seemed appropriate that I should name the character Linus." Schulz and Maurer continued to meet for coffee at Snoopy's Home Ice skating rink in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area ...

, until Schulz died in 2000. Following MCAD, Maurer moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he worked as an illustrator for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

and IBM. In 1962, he relocated to San Francisco to accept a position as the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

with the McCann Erickson ad agency. He also worked as an art director at

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

in San Francisco as well. He eventually left the corporate world and opened his own office in the city's

Ghirardelli Square Ghirardelli Square is a landmark public square with shops and restaurants and a 5-star hotel in the Marina area of San Francisco, California. A portion of the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Pioneer Woolen ...

. He created several comic strips during the 1960s and 1970s, including "Old Harrigan," "Abracadabra" and "In the Beginning." Maurer moved from San Francisco to the Sonoma Valley following the death of his wife. He worked as an editorial cartoonist for more than 25 years in Sonoma. Maurer suffered from heart disease and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

during his later years, but continued to draw until shortly before his death. He died in

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's p ...

, on January 29, 2016, at the age of 90. He was predeceased by his wife and survived by his partner of 26 years, Mary Jo Starsiak. Both Maurer and Starsiak were widowers when they first met in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurer, Linus 1926 births 2016 deaths People from Brown County, Minnesota American editorial cartoonists Puzzle designers People from Sonoma, California Artists from San Francisco