Robert Dana Gustafson (August 8, 1920 – November 28, 2001) was an American cartoonist whose work includes eight years on ''

Tillie the Toiler ''Tillie the Toiler'' is a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled ''Rose of the Office''. With a title change, it sold to King Features Syndicate ...

'' and a 27-year run on the ''

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

'' comic books.

Early life

Gustafson was born on August 8, 1920, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

as a pilot and pitched semi-pro baseball in the Boston area. Gustafson attended Boston's

School of the Museum of Fine Arts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...

and did his first work for ''Bostonian'' magazine in the early 1940s.

Comic strips

In the post-World War II years he did his Sunday strip ''Specs'' for the New York Tribune Syndicate. Published for one full year (May 12, 1946 to May 25, 1947), it was a filler strip which did not always appear every week. In the 1950s, he did gag cartoons for '' Ladies' Home Journal'', Ridgefield Press, ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'', '' Collier's'' and '' Judge''. He assisted on

Russ Westover Russell Channing Westover (March 8, 1886 – May 3, 1966) was a cartoonist best known for his long-run comic strip ''Tillie the Toiler''. Early life Westover was born in Los Angeles, California. He recalled, "When the time came... to make a livi ...

's ''Tillie the Toiler'' strip for

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial ...

. After Westover departed, Gustafson's signature appeared on the strip beginning October 4, 1954 and ending March 7, 1959. In the 1960s, he assisted as a writer on '' Joe Palooka'' for the McNaught Syndicate before joining

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

's staff. From 1963 until the mid-1970s, he assisted on Walker's ''

'', ''

Boner's Ark ''Boner's Ark'' is an American comic strip created by Mort Walker, also the creator of ''Beetle Bailey''. Walker debuted the strip under the pseudonym "Addison" on March 11, 1968. The title is a reference to Noah's Ark of Abrahamic religions. Des ...

'' and ''

Hi and Lois ''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose offspring currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.R ...

''. Gustafson was mainly involved in the ''Beetle Bailey'' comic books published by Dell Publishing/Western (early 1960s),

King Comics King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comic ...

(mid-1960s) and

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

(early 1970s). He drew

Robert Baldwin Robert Baldwin (May 12, 1804 – December 9, 1858) was an Upper Canadian lawyer and politician who with his political partner Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Lower Canada, led the first responsible government ministry in the Province of Canada. " ...

's ''Freddy'' for Dell Comics and his other work for Dell includes '' Mr. Magoo'' and ''Ponytail''.

Editorial cartoons

In later years, he did editorial cartoons for the Acorn group of Connecticut newspapers.

Awards

Gustafson received the National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Award for 1962 and 1982 and their Humor Comic Book Award for 1971 and 1972. He retired to

Old Greenwich Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct section ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and died there on November 28, 2001.

References

External links