Ed Nofziger; Cartoonist, Illustrator

Ed Nofziger, 87, a cartoonist known for his talking animal drawings, which appeared in national magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, the New Yorker, Saturday Review and Parade. Born in Porterville, Calif., Nofziger took an interest in drawing as a child. In 1936, he graduated from UCLA, where he drew for a campus humor magazine called the Claw. Striking out for New York City after college, he began drawing regularly for the Saturday Evening Post in 1938. A conscientious objector during World War II, Nofziger worked for the forest service, making drawings and planting trees. He went into animation after the war, working for UPA studios drawing “Mister Magoo” and creating the character Mother Magoo. He later worked at Hanna-Barbera where he did the “Ruff and Ready” comic strips and stories. In the 1960s, Nofziger developed the bilingual comic strip “Buenos Dias.” Fellow cartoonist Roger Armstrong said that Nofziger had a very loose, whimsical drawing style. He was one of “the finest cartoonists of animals in the last half-century,” Armstrong said. Nofziger was also a prolific illustrator of books. His work can be found in Will Cuppy’s “How to Attract a Wombat” and in his own “Cartoon Critters” and “Animals Are for Fun.” On Oct. 16 in Ojai of injuries sustained in a fall.