In Memoriam: Bill Brewer, Overland Park, Kansas
Bill was born in New York City to journalist parents, Bill and Thalia Gaines.
He survived the Pearl Harbor bombing with his mother and stepfather, Army Captain Robert Lee Brewer, UCLA, ‘35. After the war, his family settled in Northern California, most years living in Danville.
Bill graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960. While studying journalism and art at Cal, Bill drew cartoons for the Daily Californian, Pelican, and California Engineer. Bill won the school's Irving Prize for American Wit and Humor. He credits professor of journalism, Walter Gieber, and professor of art, Erle Loran, with motivating teaching and creative inspiration. Bill studied theater arts at Cal with Jean Renoir. Bill was the president of the Cal chapter of Sigma Delta Chi in 1960.
Bill studied at Chouinard Art Institute, (now known as California Institute of the Arts), between Cal school semesters 1956 through 1958. In 1957, he won a nationwide student cartoon contest and was named National Campus Cartoonist of the Year. The contest was published and sponsored by Box Cards and TWA and judged by Groucho Marx, Al Capp, and Steve Allen. Bill also appeared in Groucho Marx’ game show ‘You Bet Your Life’, and won the top prize, a trip to Paris.
Before graduation, Bill sold cartoons to the Los Angeles Times Mirror Syndicate and to countless magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Harvard Business Review, Parade Magazine, Argosy, Readers Digest, just to name a few.
From 1963 through 1969, Bill was the director of contemporary humor, working at Buzza-Cardoza Greeting Cards in Anaheim, California, where he created the famous and world publicized ‘Nutty ‘Nouncements. This line of cards was wildly popular and was featured by Johnny Carson on his late-night TV show.
While working at Buzza-Cardoza he met and married artist Pauline (Polly) Prindle in 1964.
Bill also wrote and sold various jokes and punchlines to stand-up comedians, including funny lady, Phyllis Diller, who took a liking to his style of humor and utilized many jokes Bill wrote for her style of comedy.
For 15 years, Bill was a senior design manager and art director for Hallmark Cards, where he wrote, illustrated and directed the development of humorous special feature card promotions that were extremely successful, including the popular, Funny Expressions, Label Cards and Fun Ink.
Bill won more than many notable and impressive recognition awards throughout his career. In 1970, one of his cartoons won the International Salon of Humor's Palme d’Or Award from Bordighero, Italy, the highest award for creative humor design. Bill won the National Cartoonist’s Society Reuben Award for greeting card design in 2000. Recognized in 2024, Bill was a finalist chosen from cartoonists all over the world in the 63rd International Cartoon Contest in Knokke-heist, Belgium. His work was included in a special showing and celebration of cartoonists of the ‘highest talent and quality.’
For over 10 years, Bill taught cartooning classes for children at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. He taught Saturday classes and full weeks of summer classes during each year. His classes were always quickly filled to capacity with long wait lists. Bill taught from his own cartooning art and experience and also introduced children to the history of cartooning and the work of other famous cartoonists. He was always delighted with the children’s enthusiasm and imagination. Every class lovingly referred to him as ‘Mr. Bill.’
Bill created and brought smiles and laughs to thousands of people.
Bill is survived by his wife of 61 years, Polly, daughters Anne and Jill, son-in-law, Todd, beloved grandchildren, Emily and Cameron, sister-in-law Nancy, Cal ’65, and nephews Jef and Evan. He is predeceased in 2025 by his younger brother, Kent, Cal ‘67.
