Tom Forman; Co-Creator of 4 Comic Strips

Tom Forman, half of the creative team that produced the “Motley’s Crew” syndicated comic strip for the past 20 years, has died. He was 60.

Forman, who wrote the strip drawn by Ben Templeton and signed Forman & Templeton, died last Saturday of cancer at his Agoura Hills home.

The team also penned the comics “Elwood,” “Prime Time” and “The Sporting Life,” which was carried in The Times’ Sports section and 184 other newspapers.

“Motley’s Crew,” printed regularly in 250 newspapers, is a satirical social commentary as seen through the eyes of blue-collar worker Mike Motley.

In a typical “Sporting Life,” a boxing promoter, signing up an Eskimo fighter, asks the fighter’s mother: “Is it OK if we change Nanook’s name to Sugar Ray?”

Born in Detroit, Forman earned a degree in government at Cal State L.A. and taught government and history for four years. Then he switched to writing, producing and developing television documentaries, feature films and television plots.

Deciding that he was going broke trying to sell movies, he got the idea for Motley and, through a mutual friend, met Templeton, an advertising art director and designer. They drew and wrote the strip and, against great odds, managed to sell it to a syndicate in 1976. They added “The Sporting Life,” satirizing sports, two years later and the others after that.

A sports junkie, Forman played semipro basketball and baseball. At age 26, he turned down an offer to pitch in the minor leagues. He also was an avid swimmer and golfer and a Little League coach.

Forman and Templeton worked in their respective homes and met weekly to critique each other’s output, sure the neighbors thought they were occupied in something illegal.

“They’re very suspicious,” Forman told The Times in 1981. “All they know about us is that we work for a syndicate, get phone calls from New York, never go out and have meetings in the basement.”

Ever the teacher, Forman spent his life being a mentor to youngsters and other writers and cartoonists.

“As well as being very good at this job,” Templeton said of his partner, “Tom had the most human attribute of all, that of a natural-born teacher.”

He is survived by his wife, Ann, and two children, David and Laura.