Skip Morrow 1951 - 2019

Cartoonist Skip Morrow, best known for his two best-selling "The Official I Hate Cats Book" cartoon books, passed away suddenly on May 28 at his home in Wilmington, Vermont. He was 67 years old.

From the obituary:

Mr. Morrow’s love of music began at age [12] when he learned to play the guitar. When he was in high school he went on to play in a rock band called Mother’s Little Helpers. In 1974, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in communication with a focus on photojournalism from Rutgers University. Unable to land a job in this field after graduation, he turned to his talent as a singer, guitarist, and pianist and began playing music at establishments on Cape Cod, Nantucket, Bermuda, St. Thomas, New York City, the Caribbean, the Berkshires, Florida, and Boston, which included a performance for the New England Emmy Awards in 1984 at the Wang Center.

All the while, he loved to sketch. His art mostly consisted of cartoons, although he was talented in several mediums. In 1974, while still playing music on the Cape in the summers, he went to Mount Snow to find a gig playing music in the winter and became the resident musician at Snow Lake Lodge for five years. Later, he began playing at The Silo, performing with The Duck Tones and other local musicians. In 1980, he published the New York Times bestseller, “The Official I Hate Cats Book,” which launched his full-time career as an illustrator. Mr. Morrow went on to become an accomplished illustrator. He published many other books, calendars, and greeting cards, and did commissioned and freelance work for numerous corporations both locally and globally.

The Daily Cartoonist has more about Skip Morrow.

Here's a 2007 interview via PBS: