Bob Gregory, R.I.P.

Bob Gregory, who wrote and/or drew hundreds of Donald Duck comic books for Western Publishing has died. He was 82 and the official cause of death is listed as pneumonia. Gregory was born in 1921 in Los Angeles, where he eventually attended Otis Art Institute. He did several years as a technical illustrator for an airplane manufacturer but the work did not suit him and he began submitting ideas and sketches to Western Publishing. In 1958, they finally began accepting his work on a steady-enough basis that he could chuck the aircraft job and go full-time. Thereafter, he wrote scripts for others to draw and scripts for himself to draw, and while he worked on most of Western's "funny animal" comics, his main gig was as writer-artist for Donald and other ducks. In the seventies, he wrote and pencilled most issues of Daisy and Donald. He was the guy who drew the ducks with very round heads, which he usually created with a circle template.

His work was quite popular and he obviously had cartooning in his blood. You can tell because he passed it on to his daughter, who is also a cartoonist and a very good one. Roberta Gregory created the popular feminist anti-heroine, Bitchy Bitch, who is not exactly Daisy Duck but does continue the family tradition.