Jeff MacNelly

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Jeffrey Kenneth MacNelly (September 17, 1948 – June 8, 2000) was a three time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, the creator of the immensely popular comic strip, Shoe, and an artist whose fine art paintings, prints and sculptures manage to convey both his superb draftsmanship and his unique view of the world in which he lived.

Jeff’s talents generated both admiration and respect. In June 2000, Lawrence Van Gelder wrote in the NY Times, “Mr. MacNelly was regarded as one of the nation’s foremost political cartoonists, a profession that calls for the combined talents of artist, casual critic, political analyst and humorist.” That same month, Howard A. Tyner, V.P. and editor at Tribune Media wrote, “There are cartoonists who have the technical skills to draw very well, cartoonists with sharp political minds, and cartoonists who are just plain funny. Jeff MacNelly was all of those.”

Jeff MacNelly was born in New York City in 1947 and grew up on Long Island. Jeff’s mother was a retired journalist. His father C.L. MacNelly, ran an advertising firm. From 1964 to 1968, C.L. was the publisher of the Saturday Evening Post. He gave it all up to pursue his dream of being a portrait artist. During Jeff's youth, the newspaper was a constant presence. In the MacNelly house, art and political discussion were an influence on the children.

Jeff went to school first at Andover in Massachusetts, but showed little interest in his studies besides playing trumpet, drawing and getting into mischief. He graduated and went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he continued his standard of not caring much for academic study. But it was here that he was accepted as a sports journalist and illustrator for “The Daily Tar Heel” and the career of a great satirist was born. Indeed, he considered himself to be a horrible sports writer, but his illustrations for the paper were well beyond the ability of an average art student. Jeff quit school just shy of getting his bachelor and married his first wife, Rita MacNelly in 1970.

Jeff got a job at the Chapel Hill Weekly. He worked for the editor who became his mentor, the legendary Jim “Shu” Shumaker. Shumaker’s impression on the cartoonist was so profound that he created the comic strip Shoe after “Shu” and the strip’s lead character is based upon him. By 1970, Jeff had become such a fine artist, that he was hired by Ross Mackenzie at the Richmond VA News Leader to be their main illustrator and satirist. In less than 2 years in 1972, Jeff won his first Pulitzer Prize, helping to put the small paper on the map. It was a great year for Jeff, as his first son Jake was born only months before.

At this time, Jeff was courted by various newspaper syndicates and journals to work for them, but Jeff turned them down, preferring the slower pace of southern culture. In 1974 his second son was Danny was born and Jeff was settling into being syndicated through the Chicago Tribune, while making the south his home. In 1977, he launched his first comic strip, “Shoe,” which was an immediate success. Not to outdo himself, Jeff won his second Pulitzer and a Reuben award in 1978, and then a second Reuben in 1979.

In the 1980s, Jeff moved to Chicago from Virginia and back again, he won the Thomas Nast award and his third Pulitzer in 1985. His son Matt was born to his third wife in 1986. In 1989, Jeff met his last wife, Susie MacNelly. They married in Washington D.C. in 1990 and soon thereafter, moved to Flint Hill, VA. They got a herd of horses for Susie to ride, a garage filled with jalopies for Jeff to tinker with, (including "Shoe's" Cosmo Fishhawk’s 1959 DeSoto), room enough for the multitude of stray dogs and cats who adopted them, a couple of studios where Jeff could work his pen, paint and paper magic, with a view and enough fresh air to last a lifetime. To top it off, they bought a bungalow in Key West where they could avoid Virginia winters.

In 1992, Jeff met Chris Cassatt, a computer whiz and cartoonist who became his assistant. Chris helped him change the way he worked by adding digitalization to his mediums. In 1992, Jeff hired Chris full time, and they tele-commuted between Fishhawk pass, from Virginia to Aspen Colorado where Chris lives and back again. Also in 1993, on a suggestion from his wife Susie and long time friend Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, David Kennerly, Jeff launched his strip “Pluggers.”

But, a tragedy hit Jeff and his family when his son Jake MacNelly was killed in a freak climbing accident in Colorado in 1996. Jake was an aspiring editorial cartoonist and journalist for the Aspen News. The day he died he had a cartoon published in the New York Times.

By this time, one of Jeff’s friends and colleagues at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Gary Brookins has assisted Jeff in filling in doing finish work. Gary loved Pluggers and could replicate Jeff’s style. Exhausted after his son’s death, Jeff simply gave the strip to Gary to take over in early 1997. “Pluggers” is still being produced by Gary today and is syndicated in hundreds of papers world wide.

In the late 90s Jeff began to also put more concentration into his passion, fine art painting and sculpture. By 1999, Jeff had almost finished passing the task of creating “Shoe” onto Chris, Susie and Gary. But, in December of 1999, Jeff was diagnosed with Lymphoma. True to form, Jeff ignored much of his illness, kept on working, producing “Shoe” and editorial cartoons and Dave Barry illustrations in his Johns Hopkins hospital bed right up to the day he died. He died on June 8th, 2000.

Jeff’s legacy is continued through the work of Chris Cassatt, Gary Brookins, Susie MacNelly, his head writer Bill Linden and Doug Gamble. This team keeps alive Jeff MacNelly’s work on Shoe and Dave Barry’s illustrations, as well as museum shows, fine art sales, licensing and publishing.