{{Short description|American cartoonist (1928–2001)}} {{Infobox person | name = George Gately Gallagher | image = George Gately Gallagher.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|12|21|mf=y}} | birth_place = Queens Village, Queens, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2001|9|30|1928|12|21|mf=y}} | death_place = Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. | occupation = Cartoonist, writer | other_names = George Gallagher | spouse = | parents = | children = | relatives = John Gallagher (brother)<br>Michael Gallagher (nephew) }} '''George Gately Gallagher''' (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as '''George Gately''', was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the ''Heathcliff'' comic strip.
Born in Queens Village, Queens, Gately came from a family of comics lovers. His father was an amateur doodler, and his elder brother John was also a cartoonist. He grew up and went to school in Bergenfield, New Jersey.<ref name=ElMundoObit>{{cite news|url=http://www.elmundo.es/2001/10/06/opinion/1056360.html|title=George Gately: Creador del gato Heathcliff|last=Hernandez|first=Cava|newspaper=El Mundo|location=Madrid|language=Spanish|date=2001-10-06|accessdate=2007-11-20|quote=George Gately Gallagher nació en Queens Village, Nueva York, en 1928, meses antes de que estallase la Gran Depresión. Pero, a todos los efectos, hay que considerarle un habitante de New Jersey, en cuya localidad de Bergenfield es donde transcurrieron su infancia y su adolescencia.}}</ref>
Gately studied art at Pratt Institute. After graduating, he worked at an advertising agency for 11 years, but commercial art gave him little satisfaction. Seeing the success of his elder brother, George decided to enter the cartoon field. In 1957, he sold his first comic. He dropped his last name of Gallagher to avoid confusion with his brother.
==Comic strips== In 1964, he created his first strip, ''Hapless Harry'', which ran for a few years in several newspapers. He also created a strip called "Hippy" around 1967 featuring a curvaceous blonde flower child. It only ran until 1969, although it was advertised in E&P until 1970. But his most memorable creation came in 1973 in the form of a fat orange cat, Heathcliff.<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E6DA103DF930A35753C1A9679C8B63|title=George Gately, 72; Created "Heathcliff"|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2001-10-03|accessdate=2007-11-20}}</ref> ''Heathcliff'' was an enormous success and was published in newspapers worldwide. To keep up with the demand, he recruited Bob Laughlin, and later his brother John to help draw the daily strips and Sunday color pages.
''Heathcliff'' is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, who took over the strip from McNaught Syndicate in 1988. Gately gave up drawing in 1998. ''Heathcliff'' is now written and drawn by his nephew Peter Gallagher.<ref name=NYTObit/>
A resident of Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Gately died of a heart attack on September 30, 2001, at the age of 72, at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, after months of deteriorating health.<ref>Thurber, Jon. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-04-me-53366-story.html "George Gallagher, 72; Cartoonist Created Feisty Cat Heathcliff"], ''Los Angeles Times'', October 4, 2001. Accessed November 17, 2017. "Gallagher died Sunday of cardiopulmonary disease at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J. A resident of Upper Saddle River, N.J., Gallagher had been hospitalized in declining health for several months."</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|United States|Biography|Comics}} *{{cite web|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/g/gately_george.htm |title=George Gately | Lambiek Comiclopedia |website=Lambiek.net |date= |accessdate=2016-07-28}}
{{Authority control}} {{Heathcliff}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gately, George}} Category:1928 births Category:2001 deaths Category:American comics writers Category:American humorists Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:People from Bergenfield, New Jersey Category:People from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Category:Pratt Institute alumni Category:Heathcliff (comic strip) {{US-cartoonist-stub}}