Robert Quackenbush

Dr. Robert Mead Quackenbush, MSW, PhD (July 23, 1929 – May 17, 2021) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He authored 110 books and illustrated 60 more by 1999.

After graduating from high school in 1947, Quackenbush spent a summer studying art at Parsons School of Design. He initially attended Phoenix College, but opted not to continue his studies and worked towards a career in art instead. He subsequently enrolled in the ArtCenter College of Design in 1948. Two years later, he was chosen in the Selective Service draft and joined the US Army to fight in the Korean War. He was stationed in South Carolina and Indiana, where he continued his art by painting watercolor portraits of his fellow soldiers and officers. Quackenbush was honorably discharged in 1953, with his G.I. Bill helping him finish his studies at the ArtCenter. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1956, before relocating to New York. He was conferred the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1982 for best juvenile mystery with Detective Mole and the Halloween Mystery. Two decades later, his books on Miss Mallard were adapted into an animated television series, A Miss Mallard Mystery, that was premiered in 2000, but produced by the Montreal-based children's entertainment company. Edgar Allan Poe Special Award for best juvenile mystery for his book Detective Mole and the Halloween Mystery (1982).