Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Morrie Turner 1923-2014


Photo by Kat Wade for The Chronicle.



Morrie Turner, creator of the nationally syndicated WEE PALS newspaper comic strip, died in a hospital in Sacramento, CA on Sunday, January 26, 2014. He had been hospitalized for kidney problems. He was 90 years old.

He served with the 477 Bomber Group (the Tuskegee Airmen) Special Services in World War 2.

Urged by Charles Schulz, Mr. Turner launched WEE PALS on February 15, 1965. The strip became a children's' animated TV show titled KID POWER in 1972.

The San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum award him a "Snoopy," a Charles M. Schulz "Sparky" Award. He also received the Bob Clampett Humanitian Award, the California Black Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, among others. He was also a founder of the Northern California African American History Museum and Library in Oakland, CA.


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