Thomas Fisk Goff was born in London, England on August 15, 1890. By the 1920s he had settled in Los Angeles. As the owner of Crescent Sign Company, in 1923 he was the designer of the famous Hollywood sign (declared a historical monument in 1973). In the 1930s he was an employee of the Federal Art Project and for 25 years he was field director for the American Red Cross. Goff died in Atascadero, California on January 30, 1984. A prolific painter of more than 5,000 paintings, his favorite subjects were old barns and Morro Rock.