Reuters announces the death of Thomas Kinkade:

Kinkade died alone on Friday at his residence in Los Gatos, a small town about 45 miles south of San Francisco, from what appeared to be natural causes, family spokesman David Satterfield said. No other details were immediately available. […]

“Born in Placerville, California, an old gold rush town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, Kinkade built an unparalleled art empire, his works distributed through about 4,500 art dealers, according to a 2002 interview he gave to the San Jose Mercury News newspaper. […]

Kinkade claimed to be America’s most collected living artist, his prints hanging on the walls of an estimated 10 million Americans. A Christian who often depicted scenes from the Bible, Kinkade was known to dress as Santa Claus each Christmas and ride around Los Gatos on a motorcycle to deliver gifts, according to the Mercury News.

Painter of Light Dead at 54 (Reuters)