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Bob Monks, 1927-2011
posted June 6, 2011
 

Bob Monks, a cartoonist and educator that worked in editorial cartoons, had his own TV show and published a book focused on his beloved Windsor, Ontario, passed away on February 8 due to complications from lung disease. He was 83 years old.

Monks was born in Bay City, Michigan. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and worked as an artist in New York City, where he married and started and family. The Monks moved to Windsor -- the former Ann Gibson had grown up there -- in the 1950s.

Monks initially worked a commercial art job in Detroit, but eventually entered into the lifeblood of Windsor as an educator and a cartoonist with a booster's eyes for the unique qualities of the community. He worked first as a high school art teacher -- he later described the change in salary from commercial art in Detroit to teaching in Windsor in blunt terms -- and by the 1970s became editorial cartoonist at The Windsor Star. He eventually hosted his own TV series, Bob Monks' Inside Outside on a local channel. That ended in 1984, after which he provided humorous profiles to a local news station until retirement.

In recent years Monks suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which limited his mobility around his adopted hometown due to shortness of breath. This did not stop him from promoting Bob Monks History Of Windsor, which came out in 2010 from Black Moss Books, or from planning a follow-up. According to the obituary linked to above, Monks was also a fixture at a local home for recovering alcoholics, where he mentored younger men. He entered the hospital in late January.

A slideshow featuring work from his book can be seen here.

The cartoonist is survived by three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Monks divorced his first wife after 22 years of marriage, and never re-married. Services will be held Friday, followed by cremation.