Animator and Pogo artist Don Morgan has passed away.Donald Lester (Don) Morgan May 16, 1938 – March 31, 2019 From the obituary:He grew up in Mechanicsburg, Penn., and joined the Navy three days after graduation from high school. After his time in the Navy he went to Pratt Institute and majored in industrial design, although he […]
Gag writer Harold Emery has passed away.Harold Rodney Emery May 31, 1920 – March 20, 2019From the obituary:For the better part of his life, Harold was a contributing writer for a number of comic strips including, Dennis the Menace, Archie, Mrs. Fitz, Senator Caucus, Priscilla’s Pop, Laugh-in, The Lockhorns, Bumper Snickers, Ziggy, Agatha Crumm, and […]
Champion Pluggers contributor Reed Hoover has passed away.Reed Hoover February 16, 1931 – March 25, 2019 From the obituary:In 1952 he joined his father in business at H&S Company. He ran the business until he retired. Reed had a strong interest in history and paleontology. He was published and cited for his work at SMU, including […]
Comic artist Ken Bald has passed away.Kenneth Bruce (Ken) Bald August 1, 1920 – March 17, 2019 From the obituary:Upon graduating Pratt in 1941, Bald’s talent landed him a job at the Jack Binder Art Studio in Englewood, NJ. Quickly recognized for his flair for main characters and a smooth inking style, the young Bald moved […]
Tumbleweeds creator Tom K. Ryan has passed away.Thomas Kreusch (Tom K.) Ryan (aka T. K. Ryan) June 6, 1926 – March 12, 2019 From the above linked funeral home obituary:Tom began his career as a commercial artist in Muncie, Indiana. His love of the old west and his creative vision merged in 1965 as he created […]
King Features has noted the passing of Tom K. Ryan. Tom’s Tumbleweeds collections were some of my most favored comic books. Ger Apeldoorn has a few Tumbleweeds comic strips at his site, including some of the first ones. Here’s the beginning of a site dedicated to Tom and Tumbleweeds. And here’s Tom’s Tumbleweeds site. A proper obituary as details emerge.
Cartooning children’s show host ‘Sailor Bob’ Griggs has passed away.Robert Thomas (Bob) Griggs (aka Sailor Bob) November 21, 1933 – February 20, 2019 A generation of Virginians living within reception distance of WRVA-TV in Richmond grew up on Popeye cartoons presented by Sailor Bob.The character was created in 1959 for the sole purpose of introducing Popeye […]
Famed Disney archivist Dave Smith has passed away.David Rollin (Dave) SmithOctober 13, 1940 – February 15, 2019 From the Hollywood Reporter obituary (linked above): Over a 40-year career, Smith created and grew a department for preserving Disney’s films, television projects, theme parks and more in addition to penning several books on Disney history and writing magazine […]
Author, Illustrator and cartoonist Tomi Ungerer has passed away.Jean-Thomas (Tomi) Ungerer November 28, 1931 – February 9, 2019* *Ungerer died sometime during the night of Friday February 8 to Saturday February 9.In 1956, he traveled to America, hitting New York in 1956 with $65 in his pocket and many drawings whereupon Ursula Nordstrom, a publisher […]
Cartoonist and teacher Jim Earle has passed away.James Hubert (Jim) Earle May 2, 1932 – February 4, 2019After completing his architectural design degree, Earle began a 38-year career as a professor (and later department head) in the Department of Engineering Design, now Civil Engineering, during which time he simultaneously pursued a master’s in industrial education […]
Comic strip and comic book cartoonist Batton Lash has passed away.BATTON A. LASH (né Vito Marangi) October 29, 1953 – January 12, 2019Wife Jackie Estrada has announced the news:He’s gone. Batton Lash, the love of my life, my husband of nearly 25 years, left us this morning at 11:00. The brain cancer that he had […]
This is an installment of 2018 Newspaper Comics: Debuts, Departures, and the Dearly Departed. (part 1: Debuts – – part 2: Departures – – part 3: Dearly Departed – – part 4: Detours) 2018 – The Dearly Departed These U. S. newspaper and magazine cartoonists died in 2018. note: I usually only include creators who have […]
Cartoonist/caricaturist Frankie Bernard has passed away.FRANCIS J. (FRANKIE) BERNARD, JR. April 30, 1967 – December 18, 2018 From the obituary:Frankie plied himself as a talented and professional cartoonist. He was a featured editorial cartoonist for the Chelsea Record and Journal Transcript Publications, he also worked several years as a caricature artist in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market. […]
Bobby Hart, the Matriarch of the John Hart Studios crew, has passed away.From the obituary:Bobby Hart (Ida Jane Hatcher) left this world in the wee morning hours of Saturday December 15th, to reunite with her cartoonist husband Johnny Hart, on Heaven’s dance floor. Bobby is survived by daughters Patti Hart and Perri Hart, grandsons Mason […]
Upon learning the news that George H. W. Bush had died editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey knew what to draw.This cartoon was going to be a bookend to the cartoon I created when Barbara Bush died. It was an idea I had thought of when he was so ill in April. But he was tough and […]