Children's book author and artist best remembered for Mouse Soup and the Frog and Toad series. He was the 1981 recipient of the prestigious Caldecott Medal.
He published his earliest works -- Prince Bertram the Bad and A Holiday for Mister Muster -- in 1963.
He died of AIDS at the age of fifty-four.
Born in Los Angeles, California, he grew up in Schenectady, New York. He married fellow children's book writer Anita Kempler; the couple raised a daughter and a son.
His daughter Adrianne, a successful theatrical designer, married Broadway and television actor Mark Linn-Baker.