Sam Savitt

Sam Savitt (March 22, 1917 – December 25, 2000) was an equine artist, author, and teacher whose work bridged fine art and popular illustration. He is best known as the official illustrator of the United States Equestrian Team, a role he assumed in 1958, and as a founding member of the American Academy of Equine Art in 1980. Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Savitt’s path into comics began with Western and adventure titles; he is most-credited for his work on *Roy Rogers*, *Roy Rogers' Trigger*, *Western Classic*, and *Zane Grey's Stories of the West*, as well as *El Llanero Solitario* (The Lone Ranger). His signature style combined anatomical precision with a lively, narrative sense of motion, making his horse charts authoritative enough for use by the Smithsonian Institution. He illustrated over 130 books and wrote 16 himself, often collaborating with publishers of Western and juvenile fiction. A member of the Society of Illustrators and the Society of Animal Artists, Savitt’s legacy endures in both the comic-book Western genre and equestrian art. He died in 2000 at age 83.