Leonard Everett Fisher
Leonard Everett Fisher was born in New York City (1924). A World War II veteran, he attended Yale University's School of Art, earned BFA and MFA degrees, and taught Design Theory at Yale as a graduate fellow. He has illustrated some 260 books for young readers since 1954, authoring 90 of these; designed United States postage stamps; executed paintings for the Norwalk (CT) transit District building. He is a recipient of Yale's Winchester Fellowship and John Ferguson Weir Prize, a Pulitzer painting award, the Premio Grafico Fiera Internazionale di Bologna, the University of Southern Missisippi Medallion, the Christopher Medal for Illustration, a National Jewish Book Award, the Catholic Library Association's Regina Medal, the University of Minnesota's Kerlan Award, the American Library Association's Arbuthnot citation, and the New England Booksellers Association Children's Literature Award. He was a delegate to the White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services during the Carter Administration; is Dean Emeritus of the Paier College of Art; a members of the Sanford Lowe Illustration Committee of the New Britain Museum of American Art, and the advisory board of the Master of Fine Arts program of Western Connecticut State University. He is a Founding Member of the Westport-Weston Arts Council (which evolved into the Westport Arts Center), and recipient of Westport's Lifetime Achievement Award for the Visual Arts. His art is in the collections of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution (DC), Butler Art Institute (OH), New Britain Museum of Art (CT), Museum of American Illustration (NY), Mt. Holyoke and Union Colleges (MA, NY), the Universities of Connecticut, Brown, Oregon, Minnesota, and Southern Mississippi, the New York and Westport Public Libraries.