Maurice Sendak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Maurice Bernard Sendak (/ˈsɛndæk/; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963.[1] Born to Jewish-Polish parents, his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Besides Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak also wrote works such as In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There, and illustrated Little Bear.
Sendak mentioned in a September 2008 article in The New York Times that he was gay and had lived with his partner, psychoanalyst Dr. Eugene Glynn, for 50 years before Glynn's death in May 2007. Revealing that he never told his parents, he said, "All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew." Sendak's relationship with Glynn had been mentioned by other writers before (e.g., Tony Kushner in 2003). In Glynn's 2007 New York Times obituary, Sendak was listed as Glynn's "partner of fifty years". After his partner's death, Sendak donated $1 million to the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in memory of Glynn who had treated young people there. The gift will name a clinic for Glynn.
Sendak was an atheist, and stated in a September 2011 interview with Terry Gross on National Public Radio's Fresh Air that he didn't believe in God. He went on to elaborate, and said among other things, "It [religion, and belief in God] must have made life much easier [for some religious friends of his]. It's harder for us non-believers."
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