Art Directors Club of Houston

Friends and Admirers of Don,

Our beloved friend, colleague, teacher, mentor, unbelievable talent and gentle soul

Don Ivan Punchatz

passed away Thursday October 22, at about 6 PM. He will be missed.

I don’t have information at this time about services but his wife, Sandra, had indicated that there would be a small, private ceremony at their church.

However, we are working with Don’s family to organize a memorial celebration of Don’s life to be held on the TCU campus in the near future. I will make everyone aware of the time and location as we flesh out the details.

Don wouldn’t want a sad, morbid service, so we are hoping to have his friends and acolytes show up ready to tell stories so we can all dust off our warm memories of the time we spent with him, and how he influenced our lives. AV facilities will be available if anyone wants to bring pictures, video or whatever.

Mr. Anthony Spangler, of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is writing an obituary story for Don. If anyone would care to share information with Mr. Spangler, his email address is:

aspangler@star-telegram.com

I’d also like to remind everyone that we are collecting donations for Don’s family. He did not have health insurance, and this ordeal has taken a difficult financial toll on Sandra in a very short time. I would like to present our collection to her at the time of our memorial service. If you wish to contribute, please send a check in any amount, made out to “Sandra Punchatz”, to the address below.

c/o Lewis Glaser
TCU School of Art
TCU Box 298000
Fort Worth, Texas 76129

A brief bio of Don’s history and accomplishments follows.

Don began his illustration career at the age of 14, as a children’s book illustrator. He received his first freelance commission for a national advertising promotion when he was 17.

In the mid 1950s, he started as a production artist at Warwick & Legler Advertising, where within a year he was promoted to Assistant TV Art Director. A bit later, he joined Animatic, Inc. in New York as an Art Director. He designed filmstrips and limited animation storyboards for national clients.

His professional career was briefly interrupted by a stint in the US Army. From 1959 to 61. When they found out he could draw, he was tasked with creating instructional aids for the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

After mustering out with an honorable discharge, he went right back to work as an Art Director at Ketchum, Mcleod & Grove Advertising, in Pittsburgh. His major clients there included Alcoa, Stouffer’s Foods, Pittsburgh Corning, Calgon and Westinghouse.

In 1965, Don began freelancing full-time as an illustrator. In 1970 he expanded his business to a full service graphic design/illustration studio  in Arlington, Texas. Sketchpad Studio produced work for a broad variety of clients, including virtually every major national and international advertising agency, magazine, book publisher and record company. A few of his major clients included Time Magazine, Playboy Magazine, Exxon, Esquire Magazine, Anheuser Busch/Budweiser, Boy’s Life Magazine, Time/Life Books, Pepsi, Rolling Stone Magazine, National Lampoon Magazine, and Berkley Books—to name a few. Don’s familiar published work includes a poster for the original Star Wars movie, the Doom video game logo and package art and the illustrations for the Wishbone series of children’s books.

Sketchpad Studio has been the focus of feature articles in several graphic design trade publications.

In the meantime, Don began his teaching career at TCU in 1970. With a couple of short-term interruptions, he has remained as the Illustration instructor since then, and up until two short weeks ago. He has also served on the graduate faculty at Syracuse University for the past decade.

Between his employees at Sketchpad and his students at TCU and elsewhere, Don has provided education, training and professional guidance to over 1,000 aspiring illustrators. Many of them have gone on to become notable and successful illustrators in their own right. Don’s long-time friend and fellow Rock Star of Illustration Murray Tinkelman refers to him as “The Godfather of Dallas Illustration.” I can’t imagine a more appropriate title, because He was da Man!

Please forward this message to anyone you can think of who knew, or knew of Don.

Sincerely,

Lewis Glaser
——
Coordinator of Graphic Design
Professor
Texas Christian University

Hi all,

Some of you may already know this, but Don is on life support at Arlington Medical Center, after a brief and unexpected illness. His family has made the decision to discontinue life support on Thursday, in order to allow anyone interested to pay their final respects in person, today. The visiting hours are 9 AM to 2:30 PM, 4 to 6:30 and 7 to 8:30.

Don has been a pillar of the Graphic Design Program at TCU for over 40 years. He has brought positive national attention to the region and university through his professional work, as well as the work of his unending stream of students and protégés. Murray Tinkelman, a close friend of Don’s and legend of illustration in his own right, has dubbed Don “The Godfather of Dallas Illustration.” While Don modestly has avoided this title at every opportunity, he has clearly earned the mantle in triplicate. Virtually every successful illustrator, and many studio artists in the DFW region were at one time or another students or employees of his. Having rock star status in an academic field can and often does produce a sense of arrogance and superiority in a professor. I know we’ve all experienced this kind of thing either directly or vicariously. However, in Don’s case, I have never seen a more encouraging, nurturing approach to pedagogy, regardless of the individual’s level of skill and talent. He had a quiet and pleasant way of getting the best work out of everyone without ever resorting to negative tactics. He truly showed respect for every student as an individual, and did his best to work with that person on those terms.

Something you probably did not not know is that Don had no medical insurance. His family is about to be hit with astronomical medical bills and other expenses. To try and ease the burden, we-his friends and colleagues–are collecting contributions for Sandra and his extended family. If you are interested in helping, you can send a check directly to the address below. Make it payable to “Sandra Punchatz”. Any amount will be sincerely appreciated. In the meantime, I know we’ll all remember Don in our own ways, celebrate his life and accomplishments, and consider ourselves fortunate to have known him.

Please forward this message to anyone and everyone you can think of who knew Don, and please say a prayer for his family.

Sincerely,
Lewis Glaser

Coordinator of Graphic Design
Professor
Texas Christian University School of Art