William Soare was a veteran of service with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. Although disabled by a heart murmur after the war, he studied art at the Sorbonne in Paris, and in New York at the Art Students League under such American masters of illustration as N. C. Wyeth, Dean Cornwell, and Harvey Dunn, with whom he became close friends. He drove himself at a frenetic pace throughout the 1920s and 30s to success in the commercial art market. On the threshold of national prominence, anticipating a visit from a representative of the "Saturday Evening Post" to see him about a cover, he was struck down by a massive heart attack while shoveling snow from his front walk.