Reit, Seymour

Seymour Reit was born November 11, 1918, in New York. Author, illustrator, animated cartoonist, Reit began his career at Florida's Fleischer Studios, drawing and writing jokes for Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. After a brief enlistment in the army between 1942 and 1946 as a photo-intelligence officer, he quickly resumed his career as a freelance writer. He contributed productions for Archie and Little Lulu, wrote for Mad magazine, collaborated on the kid-friendly television show "Captain Kangaroo", fathered "Casper the Friendly Ghost" for television, and created a slew of children's and adult literature up until his death in 2001. Sy Reit was a colorful, animated artist whose library of over eighty children's novels has shaped the world of young reading.

Biographical source: Something About the Author . Volume 21 and 133, 1980 and 2002.

From the guide to the Seymour Reit Collection, 1974-1990, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])