Bob Gustafson

Robert D. "Bob" Gustafson (August 8, 1920 - November 28, 2001) was an American cartoonist whose work includes eight years on Tillie the Toiler and a 27-year run on the Beetle Bailey comic books.

Background

Gustafson was born on August 8, 1920 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He served in the Army as a pilot and pitched semi-pro baseball in the Boston area. Gustafson attended Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts and did his first work for Bostonian magazine in the early 1940s.

Comic strips

In the post-WWII years he did his Sunday strip Specs for the New York Tribune Syndicate. Published for one full year (May 12, 1946 to May 25, 1947), it was a filler strip which did not always appear every week.

In the 1950s, he did gag cartoons for Ladies' Home Journal, Ridgefield Press, Good Housekeeping, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and Judge. He assisted on Russ Westover's Tillie the Toiler strip for King Features. After Westover departed, Gustafson's signature appeared on the strip beginning October 4, 1954 and ending March 7, 1959.