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Joe D’Angelo – RIP

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D. D. Degg Published: October 15, 2026 1 minute 0 comments

Former King Features President Joseph F. D’Angelo has passed away.

The Hearst Corporation is reporting the death of Joe D’Angelo, long time employee and 25 year President and Chairman of King Features Syndicate (KFS).

“Joseph F. D’Angelo, former chairman and president of Hearst’s King Features Syndicate and an early leader in the field of entertainment syndication, died October 13, 2026, in Palm Harbor, Fla. He was 96.”

The obituary gives D’Angelo’s King Features resume:

“D’Angelo joined King Features in 1965 as assistant treasurer and controller…”

“Three years after joining King Features, he was named the company’s business manager in 1968 and was named president in 1973, a position D’Angelo held until 1997, when he was named chairman.”

Through acquisitions D’Angelo created the world’s largest newspaper syndicate in the world:

“Acquiring the Cowles and North America syndicates in the 1980s made King Features the largest newspaper syndicate in the world. At that time, D’Angelo also launched the company into the then-new home video market. He also coordinated the completion of King Features’ animated film Yellow Submarine with The Beatles which premiered in 1968.”

When the Register and Tribune Company wished to divest itself of its syndicate it renamed the syndicate arm after the longtime owners of The Register and Tribune newspaper in 1984 and then sold Cowles Syndicate to King Features in early 1986. In a similar path when Rupert Murdoch wanted to sell his newly bought (1984) News America Syndicate, a gathering of Field Enterprises and Publishers-Hall, but not his News America trademark it was renamed North America Syndicate and was sold to King Features in 1987.

Among the comics that KFS acquired from the Cowles Syndicate was the still running Family Circus and The Amazing Spider-Man that ran for 30 years after joining the KFS bullpen.

Among the North America Syndicate (NAS) properties that are still running would be Dennis the Menace, and others still blurbing as copyright NAS, are Mark Trail, Rex Morgan, M.D., Mary Worth, and Judge Parker. (Other North America comics either followed NAS president Richard Newcombe to the newly created Creators Syndicate or were left by the wayside.)

Not mentioned is that during that same time period D’Angelo began the King Features Weekly Service in 1986.

Outside of King Features D’Angelo was also very active. Including such things as:

“He also served as president of the New York Baseball Federation, president and trustee of the International Museum of Cartoon Art and past president of the Newspaper Features Council. Among his many civic and career awards were the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and being named a National Cartoonists Society Member of the Year.

“He was also a member of the New York Newspaper Publishers Association, Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, the Artists and Writers Association, Museum of Television & Radio (now The Paley Center for Media), National Cartoonists Society, Friars Club, Dutch Treat Club, the New York Athletic Club, National Press Club and Overseas Press Club of America.”

The Daily Cartoonist sends sincere condolences to his family and friends.