Mell Lazarus, R.I.P.

Photo by David Folkman
Photo by David Folkman

Cartoonist Mell Lazarus died this morning. This was not unexpected as he had been in poor health the last few months. In fact, everything after this sentence was written about two weeks ago because I knew I'd need it any day now.

The photo above of Mell with his dear friend Sergio Aragonés was taken last January 23 when the National Cartoonists Society — of which he was a longtime member and past president — presented Mell with its highest award, the Medal of Honor. The ceremony was touching in many ways but Mell was frail and I wasn't the only one there who wondered if we were honoring a beloved figure and also saying goodbye.

Mell Lazarus was born May 3, 1927 and grew up in Brooklyn. He began cartooning in his teen years and worked a lot for Al Capp and for Al's brother Elliott Caplin. Elliott managed Toby Press, a family-owned comic book publisher and Mell worked there. The experience taught him much about the business and it inspired a wonderful novel he wrote, The Boss Is Crazy Too. It's long outta-print but well worth tracking down.

Mell wrote novels and magazine articles and some TV but his main endeavor was newspaper strips. Miss Peach started in 1957 and ran until 2002. Momma started in 1970 and continues to this day, though Mell's involvement in its production necessarily declined in recent years. For a time, he also wrote another strip under a pen name — Pauline McPeril, which was drawn by Jack Rickard.

The man was very prolific, very funny and universally loved by his fellow cartoonists. I got to sit next to him at the N.C.S. banquet in January and our conversation was interrupted — and I am not complaining in the least — by a steady flow of everyone else at the party, coming by to hug Mell and praise Mell and get their photo with Mell and to tell Mell that the honor couldn't go to a more deserving recipient. I'm so glad they gave it to him when they did.