Thomas Albert Wilson (August 1, 1931 – September 16, 2011),"Tom Wilson." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit: Gale, 2002. ''Gale Biography In Context''. Web. 9 Nov. 2010. was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. Wilson was the creator of the comic strip ''

Ziggy Ziggy is a masculine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Zigmunt and other names. It is also a nickname. Notable people with the name include: Nickname or hypocorism * Ezekiel Ansah (born 1989), National Football League pla ...

'', which he drew from 1971 to 1987. The strip was then continued by his son, Tom Wilson Jr. After growing up in

Uniontown, Pennsylvania Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Greater Pittsburgh Region. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census, down from 12,422 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat and ...

, Wilson served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. He attended the

Art Institute of Pittsburgh The Art Institute of Pittsburgh was a private college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shortly before closing in 2019, it was purchased by Dream Center Education Holdings (in turn a division of The Dream Center, a Christian non-profit 501(c)(3) org ...

, graduating in 1955. He was a

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

art instructor from 1961 to 1962. Wilson's career began in 1950, doing advertisement layouts for Uniontown Newspapers, Inc. In 1955, he joined

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

(AG) as a designer, becoming Creative Director in 1957 and vice-president of creative development in 1978. While at AG, he developed the Soft Touch greeting card line. He also served as president of Those Characters From Cleveland, AG's character licensing subsidiary.

''Ziggy''

The ''Ziggy'' comics panel, syndicated by

Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger Eb ...

, launched in 15 newspapers in June 1971. It expanded to appear in more than 500

daily Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

and

Sunday newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports an ...

and has been featured in bestselling books and calendars. ''Ziggy'' merchandising has included plaques, T-shirts, buttons, glass tumblers, lunch boxes, coffee mugs and greeting cards. In 2002, Ziggy became the official spokescharacter for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Throughout his career, Wilson demonstrated a remarkable ability to anticipate future trends in the marketplace. A veteran of the licensing business, Wilson headed up the creative team that developed such character licensing blockbusters as

Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...

and

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears. The characters headlined their own televisi ...

. In 1987, Wilson's son, Tom Wilson Jr., took over the ''Ziggy'' cartoon after having served as an assistant on the strip for many years. Even though Tom Sr. lived in Cleveland and Tom Jr. lived in Cincinnati, the two worked as a team, collaborating by fax and phone. Wilson was a talented painter with works appearing in exhibitions throughout the United States, including the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

and the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

annual show in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Awards

The 1982 Christmas special ''

Ziggy's Gift ''Ziggy's Gift'' is a 1982 American animated holiday television special based on the ''Ziggy'' comics. Directed by Richard Williams, the special first aired December 1, 1982, on ABC. Production Written by ''Ziggy'' cartoonist Tom Wilson, the s ...

'', based on a ''Ziggy'' story by Wilson, won a 1983

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Animated Program. He received the Purchase award in the

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art, located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the museum h ...

's annual exhibition. Wilson was a survivor of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

Death

He died in his sleep on the night of September 16, 2011, of pneumonia at a Cincinnati hospital. He was 80.

References

External links

Biographies of both Tom Wilsons''Cincinnati'' magazine: Jan O'Daniel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Tom 1931 births 2011 deaths American cartoonists People from Marion County, West Virginia Art Institute of Pittsburgh alumni Artists from West Virginia Deaths from pneumonia in Ohio