American Artist and Illustrator. He is probably best known for painting portraits of several U.S. Presidents, including John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. Born Bernard Fuchs (pronounced fewks) his ambition when growing up was to become a trumpet player. However, an industrial accident in the summer after he graduated from high school resulted in the loss of three fingers on his right hand, which put an end to his musical dreams. He then decided to focus on becoming an artist and, in spite of having no formal training, enrolled in Washington University in St Louis, Missouri to study art, graduating in 1954. The settlement he received from his accident helped to pay for his college.  After graduation, he began illustrating automobile advertisements for an art studio in Detroit, Michigan and eventually opened his own art studio there which specialized in work for the automobile industry.  He moved to Westport, Connecticut in the late 1950s where he began doing illustrations for McCalls, Redbook, The Ladies Home Journal, Sports Illustrated, and other magazines.  In 1998, he was commissioned to do illustrations of four postage stamps, featuring folk musicians Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, Sonny Terry, and Josh White. He also painted portraits of notable athletes and celebrities Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ted Koppel, and Katharine Hepburn, as well as illustrating several children’s picture books, including ‘Ragtime Trumpie’ and ‘Carolina Shout!’, both written by Alan Schroeder.  In 1975, he was the youngest illustrator to be elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.  In 1991, he was named Sport Artist of the Year by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives.  He died from esophageal cancer. (bio by: William Bjornstad)