To the Great Beyond

For the last 20 years of his life, Gorey remained in his cottage in Yarmouth Port. He originally shared the house with some of his aunts, but later lived alone, except for the company of his cats and other furry friends.

Gorey never married, and had told some interviewers that he had never even been emotionally involved.

In 1994, when Gorey conducted an interview with The New York Times shortly after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, he talked about the approaching last years of his life.

"I thought, 'Oh gee, why haven't I burst into total screaming hysterics?'"

His answer: "I'm the opposite of hypochondriacal. I'm not entirely enamored of the idea of living forever."

Animal House

When Gorey died, he left his entire estate to a charitable trust fund for animal shelters. Once legal proceedings are complete, profits from Gorey's estate and virtually all of his possessions will be distributed to shelters across the nation.

The executors of the trust fund include lawyer Andrew Boose, and two of Gorey's close friends: Andreas L. Brown, owner of Gotham Book Mart, the New York City bookstore and art gallery that currently houses all of Gorey's archives, and friend Clifford Ross.

Ross became familiar with Gorey's work through a critical analysis; he completed his senior thesis at Yale on Edward Gorey. Though he met Gorey for the first time when he was 18 years old, it was only later in life that he established the close friendship that would last until Gorey's death.

Ross, together with Karen Wilkin, published The World of Edward Gorey in 1996 to honor the work of the "sophisticated, fine artist."

But Ross' attraction to Gorey, as a personality aside from his work, was his interesting perspective on culture and life.

"I so thoroughly enjoyed talking to him about any facet of culture," says Ross.

"We would talk about things that either one or us loved or hated."

Behind the Drawing

But not about Gorey's artwork. If Gorey's artwork seemed ambiguous, it was ambiguous for a reason; he refused to explain it.

So if a reporter were to ask Gorey why he illustrated stories of children dying, as one reporter once did, he would retort with a ridiculously absurd explanation.

"It's obviously much more poignant to do things to children," Gorey told that one reporter who inquired.