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Linus Maurer, a cartoonist and illustrator whose old friend Charles Schulz borrowed his first name for Charlie Brown's sidekick in his "Peanuts" comic strip, has died.


Maurer's longtime partner Mary Jo Starsiak said Friday that Maurer died Jan. 29 at age 90 in Sonoma, California. She said Maurer had suffered from Parkinson's and heart trouble.


About 65 years ago, Maurer and Schulz worked and sat together at Art Instruction Schools Inc. in Minneapolis, when "Peanuts" was just getting started. Schulz wrote that he made his first sketch of a new character, and Maurer was the first person he showed it to. He thus decided to call him Linus.


Maurer was a successful cartoonist in his own right, with a pair of nationally syndicated cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s.

Arts and Culture

The Associated Press

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Linus Maurer was a cartoonist and illustrator...and old friend of Charles Schulz.

Man who gave name to "Peanuts'" Linus dies at age 90

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