Zacron Dead: Designer of Led Zeppelin III Album Cover Passes Away From Bowel Cancer

British artist Richard Drew, better known as Zacron the man who created the cover art for Led Zeppelin's III album, has died after a battle with bowel cancer.

According to Classic Rock Magazine, the artist actually died in January but his estranged family only recently learned of his death. Depending on his date of death, the artist was either 68 or 69 when he passed. There was no mention of his passing on his official site.

Born in Surrey in 1943, Zacron studied in his early days with Eric Clapton and other members of the Yardbirds at the Kingston College of Art in the late '50s where he met Jimmy Page. Page and Zacron -- who by the mid '60s created a book with different movable inserts -- would reunite years later with Led Zeppelin, with the band asking him to design an album cover for their third release. Four months later Zacron completed the work, with different images appearing as a cardboard disc was rotated.

In an interview with Classic Rock Magazine a few years ago Zacron broke down different parts of the iconic album cover, describing the walnut image as "like a thing cruising through the sky with a brain in it. A boat that can think." Zacron also said he received some flak from people over an image of a screw. Some people thought it described the world was going "down the pan" but it was actually Zacron referring to the intricacies in creating the album cover.

"An album cover is not sound packaging, but an area of visual communication, an opportunity to put visual art and audio art together in a joint arena," the artist said on his site.

Zacron's twitter account described him as a "Multi-media artist, writer, philosopher researching man's true origins extra-terrestrial intervention, advanced megalithic cultures. Spokesman for World peace." The artist kept busy with his art as well as various writings which can be seen on his site.

No mention of Zacron's passing was made on Led Zeppelin's official site nor those of Robert Plant or Jimmy Page.