Charles Schulz (Robbie Readers)

Charles Schulz developed a love of comics and a strong desire to draw cartoons. His only training in art came from a correspondence course he took before WWII. When he was 28, United Feature Syndicate picked up his comic strip with Charlie Brown and decided the strip would be called "Peanuts." Seven newspapers carried that first cartoon and Schulz was paid $90 for it. Over the next 50-plus years, Charlie Brown and Snoopie became comic world icons. When Charles Schulz died on February 12, 2000, millions of fans mourned.