Jim Davis was born on July 28, 1945, in Marion, Indiana. He grew up on a small farm with his parents, a brother, and 25 cats. Because he suffered from asthma as a child, he spent much of his time in bed sketching. This soon became a favorite hobby of his. In 1969, he worked for "Tumbleweeds" as creator Tom Ryan's cartoon assistant. He then created his own comic strip, "Gnorm Gnat", which appeared in one Indiana newspaper. After five years of drawing Gnorm, he drew a giant foot that fell from the sky. After this strip failed, a fat, lazy, lasagna-loving, cynical cat called Garfield became his formula for success. "Garfield" first ran in 41 papers on June 19, 1978. It now appears in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide. It has become one of the fastest-growing comic strips in the world and has spawned dozens of best-selling books that have been translated into 26 languages, a CBS television series and 13 prime-time specials, and Garfield merchandise sold in 69 countries. Davis was named Best Humor Strip Cartoonist of the Year in both 1981 ans 1986 by the National Cartoonists Society. This organization also awarded him the Elzie Segar award for outstanding contributions made in the cartoon industry in 1985 and the prestigious Reuben award for outstanding strip of the year in 1990. Davis has also won four Emmy awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for writing in the Outstanding Animated Program category.

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri and sold sketches to his neighbors at the age of seven. He attended McKinley High School in Chicago while taking night courses at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1918, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas where he drove an ambulance and Red Cross officials. Walt then returned to Kansas City and began a career as an advertising cartoonist. In August of 1923, Disney left Kansas for Hollywood. Walt Married Lillian Bounds on July 13, 1925. They had two daughters, Diane and Sharon. Walt Disney was the inventor of cartoon animation. In 1928, Mickey Mouse was born. He was to be introduced in a silent cartoon called "Plane Crazy," but due to the introduction of sound to movies, he made his debut in "Steamboat Willie," the worlds first fuly synchronized sound cartoon. In 1932, Walt won his first of 32 Academy Awards for "Flowers and Trees." The first full length animated musical, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," premiered on December 21, 1937. His other animated classics include "Pinocchio," "Fantasia," "Dumbo," and "Bambi." In all 81 features were released by the studio during his lifetime. Disney land opened in 1955 and within 30 years had over 250 million visitors. Walt Disney World opened on October 1, 1971, after seven years of planning and construction. Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966 after helping to found the California Institute of the Arts.

Reuben Lucius Goldberg was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1883. After attending college at the University of California at Berkeley, he began working as an engineer with the City of San Francisco Water and Sewers Department. He soon tired of this and convinced his father that he had to be an artist. He got a job as an office boy in the sports department of a newspaper in San Francisco. He submitted cartoons and drawings to the editor until he was published. He then moved to New York to work for the Evening Mail. During his career Rube Goldberg was a founder of the National Cartoonist Society, a political cartoonist, a Puliter Prize Winner, and an often quoted radio and television personality. Rube used his cartoons called Inventions to show the easy and hard ways of doing things. He believed that the hard way was usually taken over the easy way. Rube Goldberg's work displayed a priority to simple needs and treasured basic values. The name Rube Goldberg has become associated with difficult ways to accomplish trivial tasks. There is now an annual contest at Purdue University called the National Rube Goldberg Contest which brings the awkward inventions of Goldberg into an actuality.

Chuck Jones was born on September 21, 1912, in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute, currently the California Institute of the Arts, in 1932. In 1938, he directed his first animated film, "The Night Watchman," working at Warner Bros. Jones remained at Warner Bros. Animation until 1962 when it closed. In 1966, Chuck headed up the animation division at MGM Studios where he directed "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Chuck Jones created "What's Opera, Doc?" in 1992 which became the first animated film to be inducted into the National Film Registry. Chuck Jones created over 300 animated films and won 3 Academy Awards amoung other awards and honors. 

 Charles M. Schulz was born on November 26, 1922, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He excelled at school and was even moved up two grades. Growing up was a long, lonely process to Schulz who felt invisible and lacked friends. Feelings of rejection from his adolescence influenced his work later in life. When he was 20 years old, his mother died of colon cancer spinning him into a sense of shock and separation. Regardless of his five children and unbelievable success, feelings of worthlessness followed him all of his life. On October 2, 1950, the 27-year old intorduced Charlie Brown to an unsuspecting America. The new comic strip dared to adress such issues as faith, intolerance, depression, loneliness, despair, and cruelty. He and his characters both displayed a very deep isolation. Charlie Brown was someone very real amoung comics. Readers were able to sympathize with him. In 1969, Schulz introduced "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Schulz was the highest paid, most widely read cartoonist to date. After the final Peanuts cartoon had appeared in the Sunday newspapers, the retired Schulz died in his sleep on Februrary 12, 2000.

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