Steve DuQuette 1927 - 2019

My friend and fellow Berndt Toast Gang member, Steve DuQuette passed away on Saturday. He was 92.

"As a kid, I would always find myself at the opposite end of a 2B Venus. I drew my way through high school, the Navy and art school," he recounts in his National Cartoonist Society autobiography. It was in art school where he met Susanne, and the couple married. He pitched a lot of comic strip ideas to the syndicates, getting what he called "nice try" rejection letters. He wound up working for ad agencies in NYC, being the go-to guy for illustrations, ad presentations, storyboards and trade show caricatures. Later on, he broke into the "weekend party circuit," drawing cartoon portraits at sweet sixteens, bar mitzvahs and weddings. He was a member of the Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society for decades, attending most all of their monthly get togethers. In 1990, Steve won the NCS Advertising Illustration Division Award.

He was one of the kindest, most enthusiastic cartoonists I ever knew. He didn't retire. He didn't stop. He was an early adopter to the internet, learning how to promote his cartoon portrait business, as well as uploading his own gag cartoon and editorial cartoon work. We would see each other very month at these Berndt Toast Gang lunches, and would talk about tools, scanning, and running a business on the internet. 

I will miss Steve, and am so glad I knew him and called him a friend. 

Here are a few of his drawings.