Jules Feiffer, a celebrated cartoonist, playwright, and screenwriter, died due to congestive heart failure on January 17, 2025, in Richfield Springs, New York, at the age of 95 years.
Partly as a child prodigy in drawing, he was born on January 26, 1929, in Bronx, New York. At age 17, Feiffer spent several years working under Will Eisner, the highly regarded cartoonist responsible for what many consider among the first comic strips ever published, “The Spirit.” Working under Eisner, he learned many tricks of the trade that prepared him for a long, rich career in cartooning and writing.
In 1956, he created a weekly comic strip called “Feiffer,” which became one of the most popular in The Village Voice. Feiffer’s cartoons, blending social commentary and other themes, including politics, love, and society, became more subtle and beautiful. In their heyday, over 40 years long until 1997, “Feiffer” won him a Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning in 1986.
Feiffer’s reputation transcended that of a cartoonist into a broader expanse of genres. In 1961, he wrote the script for the fifteen-minute animated short “Munro,” about a four-year-old boy drafted into the army by mistake, which won an Academy Award, thus showcasing Feiffer’s talent to capture a humorous element along with social comment.
Besides being a cartoonist, Feiffer was a playwright and screenwriter whose plays have done relatively very well: “Little Murders,” 1967, and “Knock Knock,” 1976, have won much acclaim for their sharp social insights. For the screen, he wrote “Carnal Knowledge” (1971) under Mike Nichols, exploring the complexities of human relationships.
The collaboration with Norton Juster on the children’s classic “The Phantom Tollbooth” (1961) testifies to one of Feiffer’s lasting literary achievements. Each week, with his delightful illustrations of Milo’s adventures, Feiffer causes camera delight for generations of young readers worldwide; thus, the book’s status as a classic is sewed tight.
In later life, Feiffer stood fast at playwriting, learning first-hand the popular banter, that children’s literature combines with humor with shrewd remarks. His creative spirit was undiminished in 2024 when the graphic novel “Amazing Grapes” was published.
Feiffer has lived an equally colorful personal life. He had been married three times, including his actress and playwright Halley Feiffer and writer Kate Feiffer, and is survived by three daughters. In 2016, he married JZ in Holden’s final years.
Among the numerous honors Feiffer received during his career were a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writers Guild of America in 2010 and induction into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Not only did Feiffer challenge audiences through humor, but his work also compelled readers to reflect on the community to which they belonged.
