Ted Shearer

Thaddeus Shearer (November 1, 1919 – December 26, 1992) was an African-American advertising art director and cartoonist whose 1970–1986 Quincy was one of the earliest mainstream comic strips to star an African American in the lead role.

Early life and career Shearer was born in May Pen, Jamaica, to parents Samuel and Sophie (née Parnell), and raised from infancy in the Harlem area of Manhattan, New York City. From a young age, his ambition was to produce a comic strip. While attending DeWitt Clinton High School, he met African-American cartoonist E. Simms Campbell, who became his mentor. From 1938 to 1940, he studied at night at the Art Students League, on scholarship. He provided illustrations to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes From 1946 to 1947, he studied art at the Pratt Institute. Through King Features, Shearer launched the comic strip Quincy, starring an African-American elementary-school boy being raised by his grandmother in Harlem. It debuted on June 13, 1970. Upon launching the comic strip, Shearer left BBDO. which became the basis for animated segments on the PBS children's education program Sesame Street, and for an animated feature, Billy Jo Jive Super Private Eye, produced by Shearer Visuals in 1979.

Late in life, Shearer exhibited as a painter in numerous shows.

Personal life In 1945, Shearer married Phyllis Wildman, an attorney and, later, a deputy commissioner of social services for Westchester County, New York. The couple had a son, John Shearer (who would also go on to become a photographer), and a daughter, Kathleen.

Shearer was a founding member of the African-American professionals civic group the Westchester Clubmen, and was a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Shearer, who lived in Pound Ridge, New York, died of cardiac arrest at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York.