One of the influential artists of Science-fiction and fantasy has shuffled off his mortal coil.Frank Kelly Freas passed away at 4:46 this morning. He was under hospice care and with his wife, Laura, at their Los Angeles home.

Kelly was an eleven time Hugo Award winning illustrator of cover and interior art for science fiction, fantasy, advertising, and MAD Magazine. Active in the science fiction field from 1950 until weeks before his death, Kelly illustrated stories by writers such as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt, Poul Anderson, and Frederik Pohl. (Full text here (http://www.sfwa.org/News/kfreas.htm))

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A talented individual and a gentleman.

:m: Peace.

Sad news. The guy was a legend.

Fortunately, he lived to a ripe old age, somewhere in his 80s. He did something he loved right up to the end, did it well, and he was appreciated for it during his own time.

It's hard to do better than that. We can miss him but he had a great life and he enriched ours so much. Better to celebrate him than to mourn him. I'm sure he would be happy with that.

I remember his early versions of Alfred E. Newman. They were all the rage when I was in high school.

Kelly Freas' illustrations were probably as responsible for selling as many issues of ASF as Campbell's editing was. I loved his art work.