This topic caught my eye and I just had to add to it.
Apart from Tolkien and Lewis which I started with at 9

I really started reading high fantasy (previously known as Sword & Sourcery fantasy) because of one man

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone

since then I have enjoyed

André Norton
Ursula LeGuin
C.J. Cherryh
Guy Gavriel Kay
Anne McAffrey
Terry Brooks
All of the Eddings books (except High Hunt)
Janny Wurtz
Raymond E. Feist
Mercedes Lackey (with /without Larry Dixon)
L. Sprague de Camp
David Gemmel
Stephen Lawhead
Katherine Kerr

and many others

Can I put Uderzo & Goscinny in under special mentions or don't they qualify?

edit: Spelling. Thanks Buzzfloyd
inwig