Tomie dePaola

Tomie dePaola was born on September 15, 1934, to Florence (Downey) and Joseph dePaola, in Meriden Connecticut. He died on March 30, 2020, at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, from complications of surgery after a fall in his home in New London, NH. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his brother, Joseph. He is survived by sisters Judith Bobbi and Maureen Rogers, and by family and friends, and millions of admirers of his work. 

Tomie attended Meriden, Connecticut, public schools, and received advanced degrees from Pratt Institute, California College of Arts and Crafts, and Lone Mountain College. He taught at various institutions over the years, including Newton College of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco College for Women, Chamberlayne Junior College, Colby-Sawyer College and New England College. 

He entered Weston Priory in Weston, Vermont, in 1956, and although he left after six months, he maintained a lifelong association with this monastery. 

He married Monique Chéret, of Paris, in 1959, in Chester, Vermont. They divorced in 1961. 

In his 20s, he created liturgical art for churches and monasteries in New England, and his artwork was featured in a number of galleries. 

But Tomie dePaola is best known for his books for children, with over 270 written and/or illustrated, more than twenty-five million copies sold, a number of NEW YORK TIMES best-sellers, and many awards and recognitions. His best-known character, Strega Nona, has been featured in more than a dozen books, and has a feature film currently in development at Lionsgate Films. 

He also wrote many popular autobiographical stories featuring his Irish/Italian family. 

He was particularly delighted when the American Library Association honored him with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now known as the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for his lasting and substantial contribution to children’s literature. He was also a long-time board member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and was a mentor to many of its aspiring authors and artists through the years. 

Tomie announced at age four that, when he grew up, he would write and draw stories for children, and sing and tap dance on the stage. As an adult, he proudly declared that he had done all those things, and even gotten paid for the latter. 

Tomie was a lover of dogs, and featured several of them in his books over the years. His last dog, an Airedale named Brontë, was the subject of the book on which he was working at the time of his death. 

His passing has been devastating for many. “Our collective hearts are broken.” 

Tomie was a very social person. Although he was not infected with Covid-19 (he had been tested in the hospital, and his results were negative), he couldn’t have visitors in the hospital. So, it was particularly sad that because of the virus, he died alone. 

If you’re motivated to make a donation in his honor, consider giving a book to someone, or a school, or a library, or a contribution to his beloved Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. 

Photo Credit: Laurent Linn