In this 2006 photo, Bill Gallo, a cartoonist and columnist for the New York Daily News, works at his drawing board in his office in New York. Gallo, whose playful characters appeard in the paper over seven decades, has died. He was 88.(AP Photo/The Daily News, Thomas Monaster)
Hundreds of New Yorkers, including sports figures, journalists and city officials, paid tribute Friday to longtime New York Daily News cartoonist and columnist Bill Gallo at a funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Gallo died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia at age 88.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, a longtime friend and former Marine, like Gallo, recalled meeting the veteran journalist years ago at a Golden Gloves boxing match. Kelly said like the boxers he loved writing about, Gallo had a pugnacious spirit.
“As a newsman, as a Marine, as a man of conscience, Bill Gallo left an indelible mark on his city and his country,” Kelly said during a eulogy. “New York City will go on without Bill Gallo. So will America. But right now, I just don’t see how.”
Gallo profiled the great sports figures of the past century, going back to Jack Dempsey, Man O’ War, Jesse Owens, Babe Ruth, Joe Namath, Reggie Jackson and scores of others.
Among his most popular cartoon characters were a mocking portrayal of the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in a spiked Prussian military helmet as General Von Steingrabber, and forever loyal New York Mets fans Basement Bertha and Yuchie.
“I don’t think there’s anything better than his caricature of George,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “He really was, and is, a true legend of the city.”
His last cartoon ran in the paper on April 19. It showed Bertha window shopping and hoping to be invited to the royal wedding in London.
This Aug. 3, 1979 cartoon by Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News was published after the death of New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson. Gallo, a cartoonist and columnist for the New York Daily News who worked for the paper for seven decades, died Tuesday, May 10, 2011 from complications of pneumonia at White Plains, N.Y., Hospital, the News reported. (AP Photo/ NY Daily News, Bill Gallo)
“It was a badge of honor to have a cartoon by him,” said Daily News colleague Bill Madden, who called him the “soul of the paper.”
“At least once or twice a month, people like Larry Holmes or Joe DiMaggio would come to his office,” Madden said before the funeral. “They all gravitated to him.”
Boxing writer Bert Sugar said with Gallo’s passing, the city lost “a part of New York.”
Gallo was a World War II veteran, having served in the Pacific, including landing in a foxhole on Iwo Jima where 6,820 of his Marine comrades died. About a dozen Marine Corps reserve unit members attended the Mass. His wooden casket was covered with an American flag.
He is survived by his wife, Dolores; sons Greg and Bill; a brother, Henry; and four granddaughters.
By ULA ILNYTZKY, Associated Press
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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