Bill Kitchen, the former Miami Herald cartoonist, has died at the age of 78 of pancreatic cancer. Bill began working for the Herald in 1960 and officially retired in 1985 but continued to freelance to the paper until 2000. The Herald reports that in the 1960s, Bill was so popular that if he took a vacation, “bereft readers would call to make sure he was all right.”
The story doesn’t say if he got his request, but it notes that Bill wanted “a cartoon of himself etched on his tombstone, at a drawing board.”
He is survived by his wife, children, 3 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Hat Tip: Mike Rhode.
I’m so sorry for your loss Donna, he was a great man, and he was like family to me, and I will miss him so much. I love you Billy..
Donna I love you,
Laura
Gladys,
My condolences. Bill gave me my start at the Herald.
Octavio Diaz
donna, i’m on the computer a few minutes ago and bill pops into my mind. so i decided to google him and i’m so sorry to find he’s past away.he and dave cross were the guys i looked up to. i feel so privileged to have worked with bill and you. he was a great inspiration to me and i think about him to this day,he and i had some great times ,i’ll miss him—lol—reggie holladay
Wow, late on getting this bad news, but I’m a little “out of it” in India. Donna, so sorry. Times with Bill and you all were so much a part of my Herald experience and lightened my life. As everyone says, the thought of Bill couldn’t help but bring a smile to our faces and always will. He was one of a kind—and always kind.
When I was a little girl living in Miami, Bill Kitchen & his family were my next door neighbors. His daughter, Rhonda, had a birthday party that I was invited to. One of the games we played was a drawing game and whoever drew the best horse won a prize. Well I proceeded to draw my horse (it was a cartoon horse that I had drawn, and I had it saying something funny). Well a little girl won that game. A few moments later Mr. Kitchen called me aside into the kitchen. He proceeded to tell me in private that although that little girl had indeed drawn a good horse, he explained that he thought mine was equally as good, but in a different way, he then gave me a $5.00 bill and told me I was a winner too! He said “Don’t ever quit using your great imagination!” That moment in life was one of those very wonderful things that have never left me all these years, he was a wonderful man!!! I am so glad we were fortunate enough to be his neighbors!