Syracuse University alumnus Brad Anderson, the mastermind behind popular cartoon “Marmaduke,” passed away on Aug. 30. He was 91.

Anderson graduated from SU in 1951 with a degree in advertising and worked at an advertising agency before completely devoting himself to cartoons in 1953, according to an obituary for the late cartoonist by the National Cartoonists Society.

In 1954, Anderson created “Marmaduke,” a cartoon about an excitable Great Dane and his family that the NCS called “one of the most well-known and enduring comic strips ever” in Anderson’s obituary.

Anderson had a passion for drawing since he was young, and was known to say he spent his younger years “cartooning his way through high school,” according to the obituary. He sold his first cartoon to Flying Aces Magazine when he was 15 years old and cartooned through his service with the United States Navy during World War II.

Anderson drew a comic strip called “Grandpa’s Boy” from 1954 to 1966, but he continued drawing “Marmaduke” from its inception in 1954 until his death, according to the obituary.

The Great Dane will survive in over 500 newspapers in 10 countries through syndication by American entertainment company Universal Uclick, according to the NCS statement. “Marmaduke” has also appeared in animation and inspired a 2010 feature film by the same name starring Owen Wilson.

Anderson has won many awards but most recently received the NCS’s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. The namesake of the award is the late cartoonist Milton Caniff, who is known for the “Terry and the Pirates” and “Steve Canyon” comic strips.

SU honored Anderson in 2010 alongside alumni Greg Walker and Robb Armstrong in “The Original Art of the Funny Papers,” an exhibit of syndicated cartoons by the three cartoonists, according a Syracuse.com article.

“The NCS mourns the loss of a longtime member of its family, and a true giant of cartooning,” the obituary reads.

Two bronze statues of Anderson and Marmaduke are being built in front of town hall in Portland, New York as a memorial to Anderson. The campaign to build the statues started in 2012 when Anderson first visited the town, according to The Buffalo News.

Published on September 7, 2015 at 11:20 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu