Last Friday, I told you that Phil Frank was retiring his Farley strip from the San Francisco Chronicle due to health issues. He passed away last night after suffering several months with a brain tumor. He was 64 years old. At his side were his wife, and daughter.
His other feature, The Elderberries will be carried on by Corey Pandolph who took over the strip earlier this summer.
I’ll update the news as more information becomes available.
UPDATE: The San Francisco Chronicle, the paper that ran his feature for 32 years, has posted a lengthy article about Phil’s passing. It also mentions that a public memorial service is pending.
UPDATE #2: Tom Spurgeon has posted a nice review of Phil’s life and points us to one unofficial celebration of his life that was held at John’s Grill yesterday (09/13/07).
When I was drawing a comic strip for the Record in Stockton, Ca., Phil was kind enough to give me permission to use one of his characters from the Farley strip. He was gracious and sweet and extremely encouraging. My condolences to the family.
This is heartbreaking news. My condolences to his family and close friends. The world has lost a very talented cartoonist and a wonderful human being.
He will be missed.
a sad day
Phil called me a few years back to introduce himself and tell me he liked my work. The feeling was mutual. He used to do a verbatum strip in the back of AdWeek that, had we any vision, was a primitive forerunner to the reality shows of today. We shared a love of and ear for conversation. Essentially, from the school of “you can’t make this sh*t up”.
I share the condolences but w/ a caveat: I pray to God to be lucky enough to do what I love right up until my ticket gets punched. God bless Phil Frank.
ML