David Guaraldi, R.I.P.

David Anthony Guaraldi, Vince’s first-born child and only son, passed away on September 24.He was only 71. Much too young. It’s safe to say, that without David’s help and enthusiasm early on, I likely never would have written his father’s biography. I owe David a lot. How that happened is a somewhat complicated story. Back in 1990, my wife and I learned about the existence of the Peanuts Collector Club (PCC), an international clan devoted to the work of Charles M. Schulz, and which thrives to this day. We became members later that year, possibly in early 1991. At the time — in those prehistoric days — club founder/president Andrea Podley produced four to six club newsletters per year, which were snail-mailed to all members. Having worked as a journalist since 1974, I immediately offered to contribute an occasional article. I already was an avid Guaraldi fan, and had collected many (but not yet all) of the albums that featured him as leader or sideman. It therefore was logical to make…