 Graczak retired from the newspaper in 1980, but he continued to produce the panel for ten more years in addition to doing a talk show on St. Louis's KMOX radio.He died of a heart attack August 3, 1997.The curiosities, including actual fruits and vegetables, were submitted to "Post-Dispatch" illustrator Ralph Graczak (pronounced "Gray"-zak), who each week selected several items and produced a color illustration to be printed in the Sunday paper.