Don Wilder 1934-2008

Don Wilder, the writer of the King Features Syndicate comic strip Crock, passed away September 24, 2008. No cause of death specified. A memorial service was held today.

Tom Spurgeon has a bio here. Here's a snippet:

"Wilder co-created the Foreign Legion-based gag strip in 1975 with artist Bill Rechin and the late Brant Parker of Wizard of Id fame. According to Editor & Publisher, the feature still boasts 200 clients. It is carried by King Features.

"Rechin and Wilder also launched a sport-related panel strip called Out Of Bounds after Crock was up in running. It did not last. There have been multiple Crock-related books including 1979's Crock (Ballantine) and several titles published with Hodder & Stoughton and Coronet in the UK.

"Wilder was an artist in addition to being a writer. He earned a degree from East Tennessee State and took courses at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He was during a long and varied career a technical illustrator and a visual-information specialist at the CIA. His newspaper obituary states that he lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, having moved there from Knoxville in the mid-1960s to take the CIA position.

"He was a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the National Press Club."

Thanks to Mike Rhodes for the information.