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Steve Gerber 1947-2008
Comic writer Steve Gerber passed away last Sunday, February 10th. He had been ill for a while and was battling pulmonary fibrosis which is a lung condition.
I’m covering this here on this blog because he graduated from the University of Missouri. He was born in St. Louis, and attended the University of Missouri-St. Louis for most of college and finished off his bachelors degree by attending the University of Missouri-Columbia for the Fall 1967 semester. According to his myspace page, he majored in Broadcasting as an undergrad. Gerber later went back to St. Louis University for a graduate degree in Speech-Communications.
Of course he later went on to write many notable comic books for both big and small publishers. He is probably best known for his creation of Howard the Duck in 1973. Gerber commented about Howard’s popularity in a Columbia Missourian story that ran on May 6, 1977. “People like the weirdness of the duck,” he said. “He won’t take bull from anyone, and he doesn’t have any superpowers.” The newspaper story also notes that he named Howard the Duck’s companion Bevery Switzler after the Switzler Hall building on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus.
The Star Clipper comic store in St. Louis has a blog post about his death as well. They’re going to be sending a condolence card to his mother who still lives in St. Louis, and if you want to add anything to the card, feel free to drop them a line or comment on their blog.
Update: Fellow mid-Missourian Mercurie has an in depth blog post about his passing.
Second update: The comics reporter has organized a page with links to Gerber tributes.
Posted in: History