DeForest Sackett attended Elgin High School and graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He joined the advertising art department of the Chicago Tribune newspaper in 1923. Sackett left the Tribune in 1925 to become art director for the Walgreen Company, then a chain of thirty-three drug stores. From 1925 to 1939, he oversaw the company's development of commercial art, and was a pioneer in the use of color in modern package design. Sackett established his own firm, DeForest Sackett and Associates, in 1939, specializing in packaging, advertising, and other forms of commercial design for corporations such as Standard Oil and Container Corp. He helped to found the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) and was active in other professional associations such as the 27 Chicago Designers. Sackett promoted the interests of the design community at large and assisted members of the Bauhaus in fleeing Nazi Germany during the 1930s. DeForest Sackett died in Fontana, Wisconsin, on November 30, 1993, at the age of 88.
From the description of DeForest Sackett papers, 1876-1994. (University of Illinois-Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 61160768
