SAN DIEGO - Sheldon "Shel" Dorf, the man who founded the now- world famous San Diego Comic-Con International, died Tuesday. He was 76.
Dorf, a resident of Ocean Beach, succumbed to diabetes-related complications at Sharp Memorial Hospital, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Dorf moved to San Diego from his native Detroit in 1970, the same year he founded Comic-Con. He spent the next 15 years as a leader of the annual convention, which promotes comics and related popular art forms, including sci-fi movies and animated TV shows.
"The guy just lived and breathed comics his whole life," Mark Evanier, a TV and comic book writer told the Union-Tribune. "The Con was built on his passion and his cheerleading."
Evanier remembers his friend Shel
over at his blog:
Shel was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 5, 1933. He fell in love with comics at an early age and began his massive scrapbook project, clipping his favorite strips from the newspaper and pasting them into keepsake volumes. The love of comics led him to study art Cass Technical High School and the Chicago Art Institute, and he made many unsuccessful attempts throughout his career to sell his own strip or to work in the field. The closest he came — and it was, along with the con, the pride of his life — was that Milton Caniff hired him to letter the Steve Canyon strip for the last fourteen years of its existence.He got that job because he'd become a good friend of Caniff's...close enough that the legendary artist honored Shel by making him into a character. It was a well-meaning football played named "Thud Shelley" who appeared a few times in the Canyon strip. Jack Kirby also made Shel into a character...a father figure named Himon who appeared in Mister Miracle. Shel knew so many great cartoonists that he probably inspired other characters, as well. It seemed just so appropriate for Shel to be a part of comics because comics were so much a part of Shel.
Dorf attended the Art Institute of Chicago and worked as a freelance art designer in New York before coming to San Diego. The first Comic-Con was called the Golden State Comic-Con and was held at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Today, the event draws 125,000 attendees annually to the San Diego Convention Center.
In a 2006 interview, Dorf told the Union-Tribune he had no idea Comic-Con would ever grow into what it is today, the largest convention held in San Diego.
Dorf is survived by his brother. Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Home of Peace cemetery, 3668 Imperial Ave.
