This guy died:
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (AP) -- Harvey R. Ball, whose simple drawing of a smiling face on a yellow background became a cultural icon, died Thursday after a short illness. He was 79.
Ball, who co-owned an advertising and public relations firm in Worcester, designed the Smiley Face in 1963 to boost the morale of workers in two recently merged insurance companies.
Ball was paid $ 45 for his artwork by State Mutual Life Assurance Cos. of America -- now Allamerica -- in 1963.
He never applied for a trademark or copyright, something his son, Charles Ball, said his father never regretted.