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John Donegan, 1926-2009
posted May 15, 2009
Noted
Punch and
Sunday Express cartoonist John Donegan has died,
according to an obituary in the Independent. Donegan, a noted publication designer and animation director in addition to his comics work, had been retired since 1991.
Donegan was born in the Greater London borough of Lewisham in 1926. He left school to begin work as a teenager during World War II and eventually became an advertising agency art director in 1958. He joined the
Sunday Times Magazine and helped launch via its initial design the
Sunday Times Magazine edited by cartoonist Mark Boxer. He would return to advertising in the late 1960s and spent a the years 1975 until his retirement as a full-time cartoonist. Although his mostly fondly-remembered run during this period was a significant number of contributions to the still high-profile
Punch, a run that included several covers in addition to interior cartoons, Donegan also drew the strip
Waldo for the
Sunday Express in the early 1980s.
Three books collecting his dog-related cartoons were published from 1986 to 1990, an omnibus edition of those books called
For The Love Of Dog!, appeared in 1994. According
to this fine obituary penned by Steve Holland, Donegan also provided illustrations to a 1987 book by June Whitfield called
Dogs' Tales. He never owned a dog.
John Donegan is survived by a sister. He was 82 years old.