Editorial cartooning International Obituary

Eric Heath – RIP

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D. D. Degg Published: August 3, 2025 Updated: August 3, 2025 1 minute 0 comments

New Zealand cartoonist Eric Heath has passed away.

We sad to learn that one of the most senior of our Senior Strippers has passed on.

From the obituary:

He was 101 years old and had just celebrated 75 years of marriage to Barbara…

WWII veteran, brilliant political cartoonist (with the DomPost for 28 years), artist, sculptor, set-builder, and illustrator of over 100 books. Eric had a way of making you laugh, think, and feel.

Boat-builder, sailor, fisherman, animal-lover, afficionado of Bluff Oysters and a passionate advocate for the ocean and its marine life [link added]. He became a Taonga of Kapiti in 2010.

From the Wikipedia biography of Eric Heath:

Heath was born in Wellington and began his professional life working as an filing clerk for The Evening Post. He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II and served with the Air Sea Rescue Catalina Squadron in the Solomon Islands.

After his military service, Heath returned to working for The Evening Post, training as a photo engraver. Subsequent to this he worked as a freelance artist. In 1965, Heath had his first cartoon published in The Dominion newspaper. He was the editorial cartoonist for The Dominion from 1964 until 1993 and produced five cartoons a week for 28 years

From a 2010 interview Mr. Heath on starting in cartooning and his routine as a cartoonist:

“You can’t be taught cartooning so forget about going to any art school that says it will teach you how to draw cartoons. You can be taught to draw, certainly, but you can’t be taught to think and cartoon art is about thinking. I wouldn’t touch a school of cartooning with a bargepole.”

While Heath was tasked with drawing The Dominion cartoon every working day of the week, his routine remained completely regular and predictable. He would wake to listen to the radio at 6.30am, immediately briefing himself on the day’s headline news. After breakfast he would read the newspaper and then consider a topic worthy of a cartoon. Ideas generally came easily, he isn’t certain just how the thought pattern flowed, but it did flow to meet every deadline.