JOHN CELARDO
(December 27, 1918 – January 6, 2012)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — John Celardo, 93, of Graniteville,
a talented and skilled artist, cartoonist and comics editor whose syndicated
comic strip, “Tarzan,” became popular worldwide, died January 6, 2012 in
Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners.
The lifelong Staten Islander grew up in Mariners Harbor
and graduated from Port Richmond High School. He attended the New York
Industrial Arts School, Federal Arts School and New York School of Visual
Arts. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, seeing duty in the
European theater and attaining the rank of captain. After his military
service, he lived in Castleton Corners, then eventually settled in Graniteville.
He began working as an artist in the late 1930s drawing
animals at the Staten Island Zoo for the National Youth Administration,
which help prepare him for his subsequent career as a cartoonist. The Advance
once photographed Mr. Celardo in the alligator pit at the zoo in West Brighton,
a setting he admitted felt slightly uncomfortable.
He first illustrated, then took over the “Tarzan” comic
strip, a task he worked at for 15 years, keeping the material fresh by
adding relevant social themes like race relations and modern living. He
also inserted current events affecting Africa, where the comic strip was
set, such as socialism, Peace Corps efforts on the continent and the spread
of new religions. President Eisenhower once wrote him, saying “I find your
work.... almost too perceptive,” in regard of Mr. Celardo’s themes.
In the 1950s Mr. Celardo produced the Tarzan comic strip
for United Features Syndicate, and it appeared in 225 daily and Sunday
newspapers in 12 different countries at the height of its popularity. Before
and after World War II, he also worked as an assistant art director for
Fiction House, and from 1973 to the mid-1990s he was a comics editor for
King Features Syndicate, a division of the Hearst Corporation. He also
illustrated comics on packages of Topps Chewing Gum.
Throughout his career, Mr. Celardo spoke to many local
organizations about his work, illustration and art. “He was quite a talent,”
said his son, John J. “He spent most of his time at the drawing board.”
Mr. Celardo was a member of the Staten Island Kiwanis Club, National Cartoonists
Society and the Artists and Writers organization in New York. In addition
to drawing, he loved golf.
He was a parishioner of Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church,
Bulls Head. Surviving, along with his son, John J., are his wife of 65
years the former Julia Esposito; his daughter, Donna DeForest; three brothers
Joe, Frank and Edward, and three grandchildren.
