Richard Scarry was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of shop owners. He disliked school, refusing to pay attention in and often skipping classes. It took him five years to complete high school and his grades were poor. After graduating and at his father's request, he enrolled in a business college, but he disliked it very much and left after his first year. In 1939 he began study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where remained until 1942 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He served as an art director, editor, and writer of Army information publications in North Africa and Italy.
After the war, he worked in art departments at various magazines in New York City. In 1948, he married Patricia Murphy. In 1949, after submitting his portfolio to The Artists and Writers Guild, he signed a contract to produce books for their Little Golden Books line. His first book, Two Little Miners, was published that year. He continued to create Little Golden Books throughout the 1950s. In 1963, he published Richard Scarry's Best World Book Ever, which was very successful. In 1968 he and his wife moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and in 1972 they purchased a chalet in Gstaad, where he worked most of the day in his studio. He died of a heart attack after surgery for esophageal cancer in Gstaad at age 74.
