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Theodore Seuss Geisel(March 2, 1904-September 24, 1991) was an American children’s author, poet, political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator and filmmaker.  He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss.  His work includes many of the most popular children’s books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.

Geisel adopted the name “Dr. Seuss” as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a grad student at Lincoln College, Oxford.  He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications.  He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for FLIT and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM.  He published his first children’s book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937.  During World War II, he took a brief hiatus from children’s literature to illustrate political cartoons, and also worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army where he wrote, produced or animated many productions including Design for Death, which later won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

After the war, Geisel returned to writing children’s books, writing classics like If I Ran The Zoo(1950), Horton Hears a Who!(1955), The Cat In The Hat(1957), How The Grinch Stole Christmas(1957), Green Eggs and Ham(1960), One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish(1960), The Sneetches(1961), The Lorax(1971), The Butter Battle Book(1984), and Oh, the Places You’ll Go(1990).  He published over 60 books during his career, which have spawned numerous adaptations, including 11 television specials, 5 feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series.

Dr Suess Goes to War denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists, most notably Charles Lindbergh, who opposed U.S. entry into war.  His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt’s handling of the war.  After the war, Geisel and his family moved to La Jolla in San Diego, California where he began releasing books. 

In 1955, Dartmouth awarded Geisel an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters.  On April 1958, he appeared on game show To Tell The Truth.  His wife Helen battled illness and committed suicide October 23, 1967.  He married Audrey Dimond on June 21,1968.  Geisel had no children of his own, saying “you have ‘em, I’ll entertain ‘em”.  Dimond added that Geisel “lived his whole life without children and was very happy without children.”  Audrey oversaw Geisel’s estate until her death on December 19, 2018 at the age of 97.  Geisel died of cancer September 24, 1991 at his home at age 87. 

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