Jim Davis (American, b.1945)

Jim Davis was born in Marion, Indiana in 1945. After college, Jim spent two years working for a local advertising agency before becoming an assistant to Tumbleweeds creator, Tom Ryan. He combined his wry wit with the art skills he had honed since childhood and Garfield, a fat, lazy, lasagna-loving, cynical cat was born. The strip debuted on June 19, 1978 in 41 U.S. newspapers. Today, GARFIELD is read in 2570 newspapers by 263,000,000 readers around the globe. Recently, Guinness World Records named Garfield "The Most Widely Syndicated Comic Strip in the World."

Davis has had many successes with Garfield including four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program and induction into the Licensing Hall of Fame (1998), and National Cartoonist Society Awards for Best Humor Strip (1981 and 1985), an Elzie Segar Award (1990), and a Reuben Award (1990) for overall excellence in cartooning