SHARE

Area Resident Mort Walker, 'Beetle Bailey' Creator, Dies At 94

Mort Walker, the creator of the popular cartoon strips "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois," died Saturday at his home in Stamford. He was 94.

Mort Walker

Mort Walker

Photo Credit: BeetleBailey.com

"Beetle Bailey," chronicling the escapes of a U.S. Army private known for his laziness, was created in 1950. "Hi and Lois," about a suburban family, launched in 1954.

Addison Morton Walker was born on Sept. 3, 1923 in  El Dorado, Kansas.

 “If there is such a thing as being born into a profession, it happened to me,” Walker wrote in the introduction to his autobiography. “From my first breath, all I ever wanted to be was a cartoonist.”

After graduating from the University of Missouri, Walker moved to New York to pursue a career in cartooning.

Walker opened the Museum of Cartoon Art, the first museum devoted to the art of comics, in 1974, with its original locations in Greenwich and Rye Brook before moving to Boca Raton, Florida in 1992.

Walker’s sons, Greg and Brian, now handle “Hi and Lois," and Greg Walker is currently credited for "Beetle Battle."

Walker is also survived by his wife, Catherine, and a total of seven other children and stepchildren.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

to follow Daily Voice Yonkers and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE