Even after an extended illness, longtime local cartoonist Dave Thorne was planning to return to the art form he loved, his family members say.
An artist and educator who influenced hundreds of Hawaii students, Thorne was one of the original comic strip artists whose work was featured in the Sunday Honolulu Star-Advertiser Today section, along with Jon J. Murakami and Deb Aoki. From April 2007 until his final strip on Oct. 30, his "Thorney’s Zoo" was a prime example of the single-panel gag strip, populated by his funny and anthropomorphic animals.
Thorne suffered a stroke Friday and was hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center, where he died early Sunday morning. He was 82.
"Generations of Hawaii schoolchildren remember his visits to their schools," said Burl Burlingame, former Star-Advertiser features reporter and longtime friend and Kailua neighbor of Thorne and his wife, Lorraine. "Dave was the Yoda or Jedi master of Hawaii cartooning. He taught it at the University of Hawaii for 23 years and was also an illustrator for Department of Education publications for decades."
His presence will also be missed around the Star-Advertiser newsroom.
"He was an old-school cartoonist who truly loved what he did, not to mention one of the kindest, gentlest souls I have ever known," said editorial cartoonist David Swann.
Copy editor and "Otaku Ohana" columnist Jason Yadao first met Thorne at a cartoon mural-painting last year and said "it was like I had known him for forever."
Said Aoki, "Dave touched a lot of people. His cartooning classes were the only avenue for those, old and young, who had any ambitions. In addition to being a warm and friendly guy, he had ties to the professional comics community both locally and internationally. He was always supportive of and encouraging Hawaii kids and adults to take it to the next level."
Murakami and Stan Sakai, known for his long-running "Usagi Yojimbo" comic book series, both posted fond remembrances of Thorne on their Facebook pages Sunday.
"If you liked drawing funny pictures in Hawaii, you knew Dave," Sakai wrote. "He was the first person I actually knew that attended the legendary San Diego Comic-Con" when it was taking place in a hotel, where he met such industry legends as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Kubert and Sergio Aragones.
"That is the kind of guy Dave was — he made friends easily, and when you met him he became a good friend for life," said Sakai.
Thorne was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., and served in the Coast Guard during the Korean War.
He met his future wife, Lorraine Yamaguchi of Wailuku, in a registration line at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He graduated in 1958 and taught seventh grade in Manitowoc, Wis., north of Milwaukee.
But his interest in animation and cartooning drew him to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, which later merged with the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to become the California Institute of the Arts.
"When Christmas came around in 1961," Lorraine Thorne recalled, "because my folks had still not met Dave, my dad sent me a check for us to come for New Year’s."
Three days into their visit and with their first child due, the Thornes decided to stay in Hawaii.
Thorne found work at the Palama Settlement in the summer of 1962 and also as a graphic artist. Later in 1962, he got a job teaching music and art at Campbell High School.
For years his main job was at the downtown and Kaimuki offices of the DOE’s technical assistance centers, where he illustrated educational material for teachers throughout the state.
Last November he was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his aorta and had to be hospitalized, his wife said.
Burlingame said Thorne considered himself a Buddhist, like his wife, and "was a very spiritual person in a lot of ways.
"He said cartooning keeps you young."
"We all loved him," said Lorraine Thorne. "He was a great father, a good husband, and we feel very thankful that he was with us as long as we had."
Thorne is also survived by sons Randall and Mitchell, daughter Kelly Paik and three grandchildren.
Services are pending.
