Bill Charmatz

“His work is still relevant in our everyday world.”

Bill Charmatz (née Adolph Charmatz) was born on November 15, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York. As a teenager, he wasn’t particularly keen on the name his Russian parents gave him—given what a certain German chancellor was doing by the 1930s—so he changed it to William.

After attending the newly founded School of Industrial Arts (High School of Art and Design, today), Charmatz joined the war effort against that chancellor by serving in the graphics department for the United States Navy.

From the end of World War II (1945) to the beginning of podcasts (2005), Charmatz maintained a freelance illustration practice. His clients included The New York Times, Esquire, Life, Macmillan, Ballantine Books, Young and Rubicam, Ogilvy and Mather, Texaco, Exxon, and others in the periodical, publishing, advertising, and corporate fields.