LEONIA — Howard Post, whose syndicated comic strip "The Dropouts" ran in more than 100 newspapers during the 1970s, has died. He was 83.
Post died Friday at Regent Care Center in Hackensack and was buried Monday at Beth-El Cemetery in Washington Township.
His daughter, Andee Post, of Hackensack, said her father had recently been hospitalized with kidney failure.
Post's comic strip ran from 1968 to 1982. It followed the misadventures of a pair of castaways and other inhabitants of a desert island.
Andee Post said her father "liked to philosophize," and the strip gave him an outlet for doing that. She said he drew much of his inspiration from things that happened around their house in Leonia, which was frequented by artists and musicians.
A native of the Bronx borough in New York, Howard Post attended The Cooper Union but left school to support the family after his father died.
His career included animation work for Paramount Pictures and Hanna-Barbera cartoons as well as drawing "Casper the Friendly Ghost," ''Popeye" and other DC and Marvel comics.
In recent years he taught at New York's School of Visual Arts.
Besides Andee Post, survivors include another daughter, Glynnis, and a sister.