William Steig Dies

William Steig, witty cartoonist and children's book author, died at age 95. Besides enjoying his work in the New Yorker more recently, Gothamist has loved Steig since childhood, with Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. However, we only learned in the Times obituary that "the book was banned in places in 1970 because the International Conference of Police Associations thought Mr. Steig was calling policemen pigs." And this quote from the obituary is amusing and seems typically Steig: "I've always despised old people. I got angry at my father when he began to show signs of age. I thought, `Oh, come on, cut it out.' "

William Steig's website. And, of course, his fame increased with the popular movie based on his children's book, Shrek!, which is darker than the movie.