in a litany of things he encourages his children to appreciate when in reality he wants them to reject when they are older. In the 2017 movie, The House, with Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, the suburban casino hides their safe behind a large Thomas Kinkade print. Personal life Kinkade married Nanette Willey in 1982, and the couple had four daughters: Merritt (b. 1988), Chandler (b. 1991), Winsor (b. 1995) and Everett (b. 1997), all named for famous artists. He and his wife had been separated for more than a year before his death in 2012. Death and legacy Kinkade died in his Monte Sereno, California, home on April 6, 2012, at age 54. He is buried at Madronia Cemetery in Saratoga, California. Kinkade's family said initially that he appeared to have died of natural causes. It was reported after an autopsy that he died of "acute intoxication" from alcohol and diazepam (Valium). In corroboration with the autopsy, according to Amy Pinto-Walsh, his girlfriend of 20 months, Kinkade had been at home drinking alcohol the night prior to his death. Pinto-Walsh stated that the artist "died in his sleep, very happy, in the house he built, with the paintings he loved, and the woman he loved.”". Kinkade was survived by his wife, Nanette, who had filed for divorce two years earlier and was traveling in Australia with their daughters: Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett, who later established the Kinkade Family Foundation. Kinkade's brother, Dr. Patrick Kinkade, is a professor in the criminal justice department at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. After Kinkade's death, his wife sought a restraining order against his girlfriend to prevent her from publicly releasing information and photos with respect to Kinkade, his marriage, his business, and his personal behavior that "would be personally devastating" to Kinkade's wife. By the end of the year, in December 2012, Nanette Kinkade and Amy Pinto-Walsh announced they had reached a private agreement. See also Combellack-Blair House Jon McNaughton References External links 'Heaven on Earth' for Kinkade fans, Robert L. Pincus, The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 16, 2004 Landscapes by the Carload: Art or Kitsch?, Tessa DeCarlo, The New York Times, November 7, 1999 The Kinkade Crusade, Randall Balmer, Christianity Today, December 4, 2000 'Painter of Light', not right, Joe Brown, Las Vegas Sun, July 2, 2009 Thomas Kinkade's American Dream The Saturday Evening Post April, 2003 1958 births 2012