Robert Brown; artist also drew Playboy series

CHICAGO -- Robert "Buck" Brown, who created Playboy magazine's infamously naughty "Granny" character, died July 2 after suffering a stroke. He was 71.

Mr. Brown became a leading black artist whose work was filled with social commentary about the civil rights movement of the 1960s. While he was most famous for his cartoons, Mr. Brown also was known for what he called "soul genre paintings," humorous slice-of-life images.

His first cartoon, a black-and-white drawing of a boy holding a trumpet, appeared in Playboy in 1962, according to a 1981 biography. The character that became "Granny," his first color cartoon for the publication, came four years later. In the decades that followed, the magazine printed more than 600 of his cartoons, including one that appears in the magazine's August issue. He sold thousands more to other publications.

The Morrison, Tenn., native had moved to Chicago as a boy. He began to gain notoriety for his artwork during a stint in the Air Force and studies at the University of Illinois.