Andrews McMeel Syndication Obituary

John McMeel – RIP

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D. D. Degg July 7, 2021 1 minute 6 comments

Co-founder and Chairman of Andrews McMeel Universal John McMeel has passed away.

John McMeel, Chairman of Andrews McMeel, passed away on July 7, 2021 at age 85.

The company that became Andrews McMeel Universal started as a moonlighting alternative career of two firm friends, John P. McMeel and James F. Andrews. McMeel was a native of South Bend, Indiana, who majored in business at Notre Dame University. In 1960 James Andrews rented a room in the home of McMeel’s mother, and the two young men became friends. They shared similar interests in humor, and soon they began a small business together, syndicating material for Catholic newspapers. McMeel eventually went to work for the Hall Syndicate, which distributed ‘Dennis the Menace’ and ‘Pogo.’ Andrews found a job with Sheed & Ward, a religious publishing house that printed serious theological works. They continued to run their syndicate, called A/M Publication Services, as a sideline. Then sometime in the late 1960s, their wives jointly convinced them to take the risk of making the syndicate a serious, full-time venture. In 1970, McMeel and Andrews quit their other jobs and incorporated Universal Press Syndicate, choosing the name because it sounded large and impressive.

above: Jim Andrews and John McMeel

This is breaking. A formal obituary will be posted later.