Sol Dember holding art created for Rocketdyne.

Artist Sol Dember died July 23, 2011 in a car accident, however, his passing just recently became known within the sf community.

He began as a scientific illustrator, specializing in astronomical paintings. When Dember was an art director for Rockwell Scientific he drew over 500 illustrations of space vehicles, machinery and surfaces of imaginary planets.

He did SF art for Galaxy, IF and Worlds of Tomorrow in the 1950s and 1960s.

His work also appeared in encyclopedias, dictionaries, books, magazines, greeting cards and record jackets.

Dember cover for “How The Heroes Die.”

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]