Mead Schaeffer was an American illustrator born on July 15, 1898, in Freedom Plains, located in LaGrange, Dutchess County, New York. He was active as an illustrator from the early to middle twentieth century, a period that saw significant developments in American commercial and editorial illustration. Schaeffer worked during a time when illustration was a major component of American publishing and advertising. He died on November 6, 1980, in New York City.