Fred McCarthy (cartoonist), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetFred McCarthy (cartoonist)
American cartoonist and comics artist
Date of Birth: 05-Sep-1918
Place of Birth: Massachusetts, United States
Date of Death: 26-Oct-2009
Profession: comics artist
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Virgo 
About Fred McCarthy (cartoonist)
- Frederick Francis "Fred" McCarthy, O.F.S., (5 September 1918 – 26 October 2009) was an American Franciscan cartoonist, creator of the popular Brother Juniper single-panel comic strip. McCarthy grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and drew cartoons from an early age, some of which he submitted (without success) to the New Yorker.
- He attended Boston College, but, feeling called to becoming a Franciscan friar, transferred to St.
- Bonaventure College in Olean, New York.
- He entered the Order and was given the religious name of Justin.McCarthy began drawing a cartoon friar while a student there, at first for his own amusement, and then for posters and flyers.
- He named the short, freckled, and ever-cheerful (if sometimes naive) character "Brother Juniper" in 1942, after the historical Brother Juniper, a companion of St.
- Francis of Assisi.
- McCarthy later served as art director of Friar, a national Franciscan magazine, and this led to the Brother Juniper character coming to the attention of the Publishers Syndicate, a distributor of comic strips. The Brother Juniper strip was published from 1958 until 1989.
- Running in over 100 American newspapers as well as overseas, Brother Juniper was the only religious-themed comic ever syndicated in daily newspapers internationally.
- McCarthy also created two less-successful religious-themed strips, Sister Suzie about a teaching nun, and Brother Rufus.
- He published these under the pen name "Fred Francis".McCarthy, a Secular Franciscan from 1938, was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1945 but left the friars and the priesthood in the early 1960s.
- He remained active as a Franciscan, however, resuming his life as a Franciscan tertiary, in which he was active till the end of his life.
- He taught at a number of colleges and universities.McCarthy died on October 26, 2009, in Delray Beach, Florida, survived by his wife Lilly.
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