By Town Crier Report
 Mr. Sasseville |
Artist and cartoonist James Frederick Sasseville, who “ghost”-drew Peanuts comic books for Charles M. Schulz, died at his home in Los Altos Nov. 30. He was 78.
Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Sasseville met up with the Peanuts creator while attending the Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis in the 1950s. Mr. Sasseville moved to California in 1959 to work for Schulz drawing Peanuts comic books (Schulz alone did the newspaper comic strips) and several other strips and comics attributed to Schulz.
He moved to his Los Altos residence in 1963.
Mr. Sasseville was recently recognized for his work during an exhibition at the Schulz museum in Santa Rosa.
A 1948 graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art, Mr. Sasseville was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean conflict.
He joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served just one day less than a year, thus making himself eligible to be called up for a two-year enlistment in the Army in the 1950s. Mr. Sasseville married Helga Leshzinger, a fellow College of Art student, in 1956.
In 1960, Mr. Sasseville began a 30-year career as a graphic artist with Varian, retiring in 1990. He was a dedicated bicyclist who rode to work daily for most of those years. His other passion was poetry, and until recent months he could recite from memory all of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
He was preceded in death by wife, Helga, his parents, sister Patricia Van Sickle and three brothers, Raymond, John and Joseph. He is survived by nephews David and Jon Sasseville, and Larry, Paul and Robert Van Sickle, and nieces Laramie and Andrea Sasseville, Melanie Lesh, Nancy Van Sickle and Jean V. Mazgay.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Alta Mesa Memorial Park chapel, 695 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto.
