Well-known cartoonist: Uli Stein has died

Uli Stein became known for his cartoons with funny mice, penguins, dogs and cats. Figures can be found on postcards, mugs, or bedding. Now the artist surprisingly died at the age of 73.

Artist Uli Stein, Germany’s most famous cartoonist passed away Stein passed away unexpectedly a week ago on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 73 at his home near Hanover, his foundation for animals in need said. According to Stein’s request, his funeral took place among his closest friends.

Stein was reportedly suffering from Parkinson’s disease, but his death came as a surprise to those around him. He leaves no family.

Cheeky humor hits Europe

Stein was born on December 26, 1946 in Hannover. He studied in Berlin and worked at the same time as a freelance photographer and newspaper editor. Shortly before his exams, he dropped out of teaching to become a full-time journalist. Since the late 1970s, he has focused entirely on drawing. Since the early 1980s he published his first drawings, which quickly made him known mainly for his cheeky humor.

The egg-eyed, bulbous-nosed people marked by Stein the mouse, but also his cats, dogs and penguins are immortalized on nearly 200 million postcards in more than 13 million books, according to the foundation he founded. Her cartoons appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout Europe. “I want to make people have fun, entertain them and give them good times in bad times or good times,” said the lone artist, whose real name was Ulrich Steinfurth, in an interview in 2009.