Jerry Pinkney, award-winning American children's book illustrator and author, passed away on October 20, 2021, aged 81. He is survived by his wife Gloria Jean, daughter Troy, sons Brian, Scott, and Myles, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.  Publishing house Little, Brown Books for Young Readers mentioned that he died after a brief, non-COVID-related illness.

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Pinkney produced more than 100 children’s books over nearly 60 years, becoming one of the most decorated illustrators of his generation. His 2009 book The Lion and the Mouse, a wordless retelling of Aesop’s Fables about a mighty creature’s unexpected dependence on a tiny one, received the Caldecott Medal honoring the year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children.”  His other credits include The Little Mermaid, John Henry, Black Cowboy, and A Place to Land: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation.

Additionally, he was a five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for best work by a Black artist, served on the U.S. Stamp Advisory Committee, and designed the first Black Heritage stamps, including those honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Jackie Robinson.

Apart from his picture books, Pinkney provided the cover art for young-adult novels including Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor’s work about a Black family in Depression-era Mississippi, and Nightjohn, a novel about slavery in the American South by Gary Paulsen.  Pinkney struggled with dyslexia but showed such talent for fine arts that he received a full scholarship from the Philadelphia College of Art.  He dropped out after 2.5 years to marry and start a family.  He was soon hired by a greeting card company in Dedham. Massachusetts, and went on to illustrate books for more than 50 years, beginning in 1964 with The Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales.

At the time of his death, Pinkney was working on at least two projects, A Walk in the Woods, a picture book written by Nikki Grimes, for Holiday House’s Neal Porter Books, and a memoir, written with his wife Gloria Jean, detailing his childhood struggles with a learning disability, and his path to becoming an artist against the odds; it will be published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

His new book called The Welcome Chair is coming out November 2nd written by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.