Award winning illustrator Bruce Stark died Saturday, December 29th at the Lakeland Regional Hospital in Lakeland, FL. The cause of death was emphysema.
Known for his lively caricatures of sports and entertainment stars, Stark worked for 22 years at the New York Daily News.
Born in New York, he moved to New Jersey with his family at the age of three.
During the Korean War, Stark served in the Navy. He enrolled in the School of Visual Arts when he got back. During the 1950s, he made money by driving a truck, digging ditches and sold some freelancing illustration art before becoming a New York Daily News staffer in 1960. He would stay with the News for 22 years.
Bruce Stark's talents at caricature made him a busy, in-demand freelancer his entire life. His illustrations graced the covers and interiors of Mad Magazine, Time, TV Guide, Forbes, The Saturday Evening Post and many other publications.
But he was more than a caricaturist. In 1970, Stark produced a half-hour animated special. Titled THE MAD, MAD, MAD COMEDIANS, it was shown on ABC TV on April, 6, 1970:
He won the National Cartoonists Society Division Awards three times: Best Sports Cartoonist (1966 and 1975) and Best Special Features Cartoonist in 1968. The New York Newspaper Guild's Page 1 Award for Best Sports Cartoon was awarded to him in 1970, 1971 and 1973. This is just the tip of his award iceberg.
He continued to live in New Jersey, raising a family of two sons with his wife Pat. He retired to Florida. His son, Ron, is also a successful artist.
Daily News obituary
I have many works of art of the N.Y. Yankees. As a teenager. I collected them from the N.Y. Daily News
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