Robert Brown Dies

Cartoonist Robert "Buck" Brown, who created Playboy magazine's infamously naughty "Granny" character, died after suffering a stroke, family members said.

Brown, 71, died July 2 in a hospital in south suburban Chicago, said daughter Tracy Hill.

"He was unique in every way," said Hill, 37.

Brown, whose birth name was Bobby, became a leading black artist whose work was filled with social commentary about the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. While he was most famous for his cartoons, Brown also was a noted painter of what he called "soul genre paintings" — humorous, slice-of-life images.

Brown's first cartoon, a black-and-white drawing of a boy holding a trumpet, appeared in Playboy in 1962, according to a 1981 biography. The character that became "Granny," his first color cartoon for the publication, came four years later.

Rest In Peace, Robert.