Bil Keane, a Phoenix cartoonist, started drawing Family Circus in 1960.
The artist was born in Pennsylvania, served in the Army, met his wife (and inspiration for his "Mommy" character) in Australia, and landed in Paradise Valley just a year before he began documenting much of his family life and odd daily circumstances in Family Circus.
Keane died on Tuesday. He was 89 years old.
The long-running strip was published in multiple papers and inspired several tangents, including the Dysfunctional Family Circus, the Nietzsche Family Circus, Jersey Circus, and most recently the Sheen Family Circus, starring Charlie Sheen.
None of the riffs were of Keanes doing (he often shot back cease-and-desist letters), but they were friendly reminders of the continuing influence his work had on popular culture.
You can still spot a few of his panels up at the Sugar Bowl in Scottsdale, or on his website. Keane's son Jeff, who wrote Eggheads with his father from 1981 to 1983, is expected to take over the comic's continued production.
