Roy Edward Doty (September 10, 1922 – March 18, 2015) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. He created humorous cartoon illustrations for books, packaging, advertising, comic strips, television and not-for-profit organization campaigns. He was one of only a dozen inductees into the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Hall of Fame. His former wife, Jean Slaughter Doty (1929–1991), was the author of several children's books.

Life and career

Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Doty grew up in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a U.S. Army cartoonist, and began his career in New York City as a freelance cartoonist in 1946.Roy Doty Papers
Syracuse University, 9 Oct 2007, Retrieved 9/1/2010 He freelanced for his entire career, never having an agent. From May 10 to October 4, 1953, he hosted the Sunday morning

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...

children's program '' The Roy Doty Show''. From 1969 to late March 1972, he wrote and drew the syndicated comic strip ''Laugh-In'', based on ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to July 23, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comed ...

''. His "Wordless Workshop", a popular home improvement series, ran as a syndicated feature for 50 years, starting in ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'' (1953-1989) and ending its run in ''

The Family Handyman ''The Family Handyman'' is an American home-improvement magazine, owned by Trusted Media Brands, Inc. History The magazine was founded in 1951 by Universal Publishing & Distributing. UPD sold the magazine to Webb Publishing in 1977 to pay down ...

'' magazine. His work was seen as part of the "Aha! Puzzle This" page in '' Make'' magazine. His work has appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Field & Stream ''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American magazine focusing on sport hunting, recreational fishing and other outdoor activities. It was a print publication between 1895 and 2015, and became an online-only publication in 2020. After ...

'', ''

'', the (London) ''Daily Mail'', ''

Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

'' and many other magazines. He did several monthly newsletters, including a children's newsletter for the American Institute for Cancer Research. Some of his ad clients included

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

Black & Decker Black+Decker is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances, and fastening systems, headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, where the company was originally establis ...

, Ford,

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

Minute Maid Minute Maid is an American brand of drink, beverages, usually associated with lemonade or orange juice, but which now extends to soft drinks of different kinds, including Hi-C. Minute Maid is sold under the Cappy (juice), Cappy brand in Central E ...

Mobil Oil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after it and Mobil merged in 1999. A direct descenda ...

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

and

Perrier Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of bottled water marketed as coming from its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard '' département''. Perrier was part of the Perrier Vittel Group SA, which became Nestlé Waters France after the acqu ...

. Into his nineties, he remained active as a freelance illustrator. Quoted in 2006, he said, "What could be nicer? I sit and draw funny pictures and people send me money." Doty died on March 18, 2015.

Publications

Doty wrote 27 children's books and illustrated more than 170, including: * ''

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ''Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing'' is a children's novel written by American author Judy Blume and published in 1972. It is the first in the Fudge series and was followed by '' Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'', '' Superfudge'', '' Fudge-a- ...

'' by

Judy Blume Judith Blume (née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult, and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 26 novels. Among her best-known works are '' Are You There God? It's ...

(1972) * '' Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great'' by Judy Blume (1972) * '' Superfudge'' by Judy Blume (1980)

Awards

Doty was recognized for his work with the

's Reuben Illustrator of the Year Award (2006), Advertising Award (1978), Advertising and Illustration Award (1967, 1970, 1978, 1989, 1996 and 2005), Commercial Award (1989) and Greeting Card Award (1994).National Cartoonists Society Awards
In 2011, his work was featured in an exhibition at the

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Libra ...

in Columbus, Ohio, where coincidentally, Doty grew up.

References

External links

Internet Archive"Roy Doty: Cartooning into a New Century"
Alliance for Aging Research {{DEFAULTSORT:Doty, Roy 1922 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American illustrators American advertising artists and illustrators American children's book illustrators American comics artists American humorists American magazine illustrators Artists from Chicago Artists from Columbus, Ohio Columbus College of Art and Design alumni United States Army personnel of World War II