R.I.P. Tom Wilson Sr., Creator of Ziggy

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Via PRWeb:

Tom Wilson Sr., creator of comics page and licensing icon Ziggy, died September 16, 2011, after a long illness. He was 80 years old.

Ziggy, which celebrated 40 years in syndication in June 2011, continues to be produced by Wilson’s son, Tom Wilson Jr., who has handled the day-to-day operation of the panel since 1987…

Tom Wilson was born August 1, 1931. For more than 35 years, he served as a creative director at American Greetings, where he was responsible for the development of many breakthrough card lines. Wilson first published Ziggy in the 1969 cartoon collection When You’re not Around. The Ziggy comic panel, syndicated by Universal Uclick (formerly Universal Press Syndicate), launched in 15 newspapers in June 1971. It now appears in more than 500 daily and Sunday newspapers and has been featured in best-selling books, calendars and greeting cards.

Ziggy was one of those iconic images that was seen everywhere when I was a child. It’s not often that something is created that becomes so deeply ingrained in our collective minds that it can be instantly recognized by virtually everyone. Like Hello Kitty, Snoopy, or Superman, Ziggy was a licensing juggernaut that will be long remembered.

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