Bud Grace (born c. 1944) is a cartoonist, who has worked on the comic strip ''Ernie'', whose title was later changed to '' Piranha Club'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He also drew the ''Babs and Aldo'' comic strip for

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Buddy Valentine. Grace was born in

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

, grew up in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

, and resided in

Oakton, Virginia Oakton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 36,732 at the 2020 census. Located in Northern Virginia, its center is west of Washington, D.C. Geography Oakton is located in central Fair ...

for a number of years. He met his wife Lorraine while at Florida State University (FSU). They have a son, Alan. Grace has a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in physics from FSU, and worked as a nuclear physicist at FSU before becoming a cartoonist in 1979. Before establishing his career as a themed comic strip artist he published individual cartoons in magazines such as ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' and ''

Hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more gener ...

'', as well as more conventional publications. ''Ernie'' was launched on February 1, 1988. Grace frequently appeared in his own comic strip, often ending up in a straitjacket. From Virginia, he traveled extensively on promotional tours in Europe, where his cartoons remain very popular as American newspapers saw declines or the total elimination of comics sections. He has been active in cartoon industry activities throughout his career. At one point, he was active in the establishment of the National Cartoon Museum when it moved to Boca Raton, Florida in 1992. In 1996, it became the International Museum of Cartoon Art. It was the brainchild of

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. ...

, the creator of

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 ...

and had gone through several later transitions until its contents were relocated to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 2008. In 1989, the Swedish Academy of Comic Art awarded Bud Grace the Adamson Statuette. Grace received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 1993 for his work on the strip. In early 2017, Grace and his wife decided they had no need to endure cold winters and he relocated to a new home in Bradenton, near his childhood home in Sarasota. He retired from cartooning in February, 2018. Over the last 20 years, Grace has enjoyed singing blues style songs and appeared at piano bars in metro DC and now is seeking new venues in the Tampa Bay area.

References

External links

NCS Awards
* Autobiography as a haiku a
www.reuben.org/ncs/members/biogs/grace.asp
1944 births American comic strip cartoonists Florida State University alumni 21st-century American physicists American nuclear physicists Living people People from Chester, Pennsylvania People from Oakton, Virginia Scientists from Virginia {{Comic-strip-creator-stub