Jerry Bittle (October 8, 1949 – April 9, 2003) was a cartoonist who drew the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s '' Geech'' and '' Shirley and Son''. Bittle was born in Wichita, Kansas and was the son of a barber. A graduate of

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, he worked as an

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

for the ''

Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surrounding area. History Origins In 1870, ''The Vidette'' was the fi ...

'' and later the ''

Albuquerque Tribune ''The Albuquerque Tribune'' was an afternoon newspaper in Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded in 1922 by Carl Magee, Carlton Cole Magee as ''Magee's Independent''. It was published in the afternoon and evening Monday through Saturday. Scott Ware s ...

''."Jerry Bittle, 53; Created Comic Strip 'Shirley and Son',"
''Los Angeles Times'' (April 11, 2003). Bittle moved to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas in 1978 where he worked as a freelance artist and illustrator. He debuted ''Geech'' in 1982; it ran in syndication until his death in 2003. ''Shirley and Son'', about life after

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

, debuted in 2000 and also ended after Bittle's death. Bittle died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

while on vacation in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. Bittle's family founded the Jerry Bittle Educational Trust in his memory.Bittle entry
Lambiek Comiclopedia. Accessed May 16, 2015.

References

1949 births 2003 deaths American comics artists Wichita State University alumni {{Comic-strip-creator-stub