Bill Yates

Bill Yates
Bill Yates
Born	July 5, 1921; Samson, Alabama, U.S.
Died	March 26, 2001 (aged 79); Norwalk, Connecticut
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Editor
Notable works	comic strip editor for King Features Syndicate (1978–1988); Professor Phumble; the small society; Redeye;
Spouse(s)	Jessie Jean ("Skippy") Hardy

Floyd Buford Yates (July 5, 1921 – March 26, 2001), better known as Bill Yates, was an American cartoonist who drew gag cartoons and comic strips before assuming the position of comic strip editor for King Features Syndicate in 1978.

Biography

Born in

University of Texas, he edited the campus humor magazine, The Texas Ranger.^[1]

Career

Moving to New York in 1950, he edited

King Features from 1960 to 1978. (In Brazil during the early 1960s, Professor Phumble was published as Zé Fiasco in the Correio da Manhã newspaper. But his more famous Brazilian nickname is the one used by the Folha de S.Paulo

newspaper, Professor Tantã.)

In addition to work on Jimmy Hatlo's Little Iodine, Yates also did the strip Benjy with Jim Berry from 1973 to 1975. In addition to work in advertising and twice-weekly editorial cartoons for the Westport News in Connecticut, Yates also illustrated books and comic books, such as Charlton's Ronald McDonald (1970–71).

When

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society"). The strip carried the signatures of both Brickman and Yates until 1989. It then became a solo effort by Yates, who continued it until 1989. When Gordon Bess, the writer of Redeye (with art by Mel Casson

) became ill in May 1988, Yates took over the scripting of that strip about Chief Redeye and his lunatic Chickiepan Indian tribe.

At the end of 1988, Yates left his editorial position at King Features in order to spend full-time cartooning. He continued to write Redeye and do both scripting and art on the small society, but increasing ill health forced his retirement from the strips in 1999. Casson continued to write and draw Redeye for King Features.[2]

Personal life and death

Yates lived in Westport, Connecticut, for 50 years. In 2001, 3 months after the death of his wife, he died in Norwalk, Connecticut, of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's. He was survived by his daughter, Georgia Y. Rojas of Trumbull, Connecticut; his sister, Ralphine Lee of Powder Springs, Georgia; and two grandchildren, Matthew Rojas and Emma Rojas.

References

^ "The Texas Ranger". Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
^ Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Redeye

External links

UT Texas Ranger Archive

[1] "The Texas Ranger". Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2011-11-02.

[2] Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Redeye

[1]

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
Other	SNAC