Mad Magazine Illustrator Jack Davis Passes Away at 91

Celebrated illustrator, paddle enthusiast and former Scarsdale resident Jack B. Davis passed away at the age of 91 on July 27, 2016. Best known for his work for MAD Magazine, Davis created artwork for magazine covers, movie posters, record jackets, ads and books, including 26 covers for TIME Magazine from 1972 to 1976.

Davis was born in Atlanta Georgia on December 2, 1924, the son of two school teachers who encouraged him to draw. He attended the High Museum of Art School and upon completion of high school was drafted into the Navy and served in Guam. He went on to the University of Georgia where he studied oil and portrait painting and art history. He moved to New York where he studied at the Art Students League, began his career drawing comic strips and married Dina Roquemore who he met at the University.

In a long and productive career, Davis illustrated for EC Comics, MAD Magazine, humor magazine HELP, HUMBUG and ironically, another short-lived humor magazine created by Hugh Heffner called TRUMP – that lasted only two issues. He contributed to TV Guide, Esquire, and Life, the largest circulation publications of their day. He was inducted in the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2005.

Davis lived in Scarsdale and belonged to both Fox Meadow Tennis Club and Scarsdale Golf Club where he enjoyed paddle tennis. During the 1970's, he created twelve widely distributed platform tennis prints that adorn the walls of Fox Meadow Tennis Club today and are still sold by the Platform Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame. He also drew cartoons of several of members of Scarsdale Golf Club including cartoons about slow play that were posted in the mid-way house on the golf course. Fox Meadow Tennis Club member Karen Reuter (1943-2008) did quite a bit of coloring for his cartoons before they were reproduced

Before retiring to St. Simons Island Georgia, Davis lived near the 17th tee at Scarsdale Golf Club.

Read Davis' full biography here: