Spectrum is reporting the death of artist Don Ivan Punchatz of the effects of a heart attack, on 22 October 2009. Born 8 September 1936, Spectrum calls him “a true giant of American illustration of the last half of the 20th Century, he [was] one of the most important and high-profile artists of the day. Don was renowned for his illustrations for Playboy, National Geographic, Boys Life, and Penthouse; for his advertising work Exxon and Atlantic Records; for his book covers for Ace, Warner, Berkley, and Dell, and his covers for Time, Newsweek, and National Lampoon. Punchatz was also accepted in the Fine Art world and his paintings are part of the permanent collections of the Dallas Art Museum and the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.”
Steven H Silver says “Perhaps his most famous work in the field graced the covers of the Avon editions of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels and Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld books in the 1970s.”
Spectrum has a nice gallery of his work on their front page.
In 1993, Punchatz was responsible for the package art and logo for the breakout game Doom. His son, artist Gregor Punchatz, created monster sculptures for that game.
[Edited 2 November 2009: Reader Eric Francis writes in to point out this New York Times obituary, and also to remind us that Punchatz was the illustrator of the original Star Wars movie poster.]