He studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn (which named him “one of the top 125 Pratt icons of all time” in 2012, according to his website), the California College of Arts in Oakland and Lone Mountain College in San Francisco. He taught in the art and theater departments of colleges in California, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Mr. dePaola was married briefly in the 1960s, but later in life he spoke openly about being gay.

“If it became known you were gay, you’d have a big red ‘G’ on your chest,” he said in a 2019 interview for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, “and schools wouldn’t buy your books anymore.”

Mr. dePaola’s “Oliver Button Is a Sissy” (1979), inspired by his own life, was the first picture book to come close to using the word “gay.” The book, about a young boy who is bullied by his peers for preferring dancing and reading to playing sports, was briefly banned by a suburban Minneapolis school, Mr. dePaola recalled in the 1999 interview, “because they felt it was anti-sport.”

Like Oliver Button, Mr. dePaola was a tap dancer when he was young. To the chagrin of his father, he insisted on dangling his tap shoes from his shoulder. But after he started performing, he added, his father took pride in his abilities.

Echoing Mr. dePaola’s experience, Oliver Button was rescued by an unknown helper who crossed out the word “sissy,” scribbled on a wall, and replaced it with another S-word, “star.”

“I was called sissy in my young life,” Mr. dePaola said in 1999, “but instead of internalizing these painful experiences, I externalize them in my work.”