Cartoonist/caricaturist Frankie Bernard has passed away.
FRANCIS J. (FRANKIE) BERNARD, JR.
April 30, 1967 – December 18, 2018
From the obituary:
Frankie plied himself as a talented and professional cartoonist. He was a featured editorial cartoonist for the Chelsea Record and Journal Transcript Publications, he also worked several years as a caricature artist in Boston’s Faneuil Hall Market. Frankie gave art lessons at Bunker Hill Comm. College and at several after school programs at the Williams School in Chelsea and the Center for Adult Ed. in Cambridge.
Frank was an editorial cartoonist for several local newspapers since the 1980s,
his cartoons eventually took the title “Frank Opinions.”
Frank was a well-known area caricaturist.
Excerpt from a 1995 article in The Exceptional Parent:
Frank Bernard Jr., 28, is a cartoonist and the creator of “Funny as a Crutch,” a comic strip series about the misadventures of Frankie, a young boy who walks with crutches, and Sharpton, his trusted porcupine companion. Bernard, who has spina bifida, attended the Massachusetts College of Art for two years. He created as a Crutch” in hopes that its readers would become more comfortable around people with disabilities. The comic strip currently appears weekly in a local Massachusetts newspaper The Chelsea Record.
Bernard explains that he earns the bulk of his “cartoning income” doing caricatures at weddings, parties and other social functions. He also does occasional Political cartoons for newspapers in the greater Boston area. In recent Years, Bernard has become increasingly interested in animation. He would like to find work with an animation studio, maybe even move up to Disney one day. His short-term goal, however, is to have “Funny as a Crutch” syndicated. The following was adapted from an interview between Bernard and Michele San Filippo, an Exceptional Parent editoral intern.
I was born with spina bifida, meaning my spine was not fully developed. The doctor who delivered me didn’t think I’d live past the age of two. My parents, Frank and Mary, really didn’t believe that. They have always had a lot of faith in me.
His comic strip “Funny as a Crutch” (aka “Buster“) appeared in the Chelsea Record.
Frank’s friends in the New England Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society are making a donation in his memory to Spina Bifida Assoc. of Greater New England, 219 E. Main St., Milford, MA 01757. If you are interested in contributing, please see the attached link. Thank you.