26 Years Later, Charlie Brown's Final Quote Is Still a Comic Strip Classic

Charles Schulz's retirement took the world by surprise. Following a period of failing health, Schulz announced on Dec. 14, 1999 that he would end Peanuts . He could no longer see clearly and had been diagnosed with colon cancer. He needed to focus on his health. As a result, Peanuts came to a relatively sudden stop nine weeks later once newspapers had worked through Schulz's existing backlog. Schulz passed away in his sleep on Feb. 12, 2000, the day before the last strip ran in newspapers.