“The Greatest Little Sensation Since Tom Thumb” was attributed to the comic strip Peanuts because it could fit in any format for any newspaper. However, the sensation did not stop there, Peanuts became a merchandising market. There are books, calendars, shirts and even a television series named after the comic strip and its characters.

On this day, February 13, in 2000, Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, died in his sleep at age 77 from colon cancer. Mr. Schulz was persistent to draw all Peanuts’ characters and rejected anyone’s help until after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Sadly, Schulz had control over his characters’ lives, but not over his own life. On the last Peanut cartoon strip in the Sunday paper Schulz included a farewell acknowledging his love for the characters: Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy, etc.

Peanuts made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest running cartoon in the newspaper, while Schulz became a multi-millionaire.