Irwin Caplan

Irwin Caplan (May 24, 1919 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed Cap, was an American illustrator, painter, designer and cartoonist, best known as the creator of The Saturday Evening Post cartoon series, Famous Last Words, which led to newspaper syndication of the feature in 1956.

[1] The following year, after graduating from the University of Washington with a fine arts degree, Caplan served during World War II as an Army illustrator, contributing to several military publications.

[2][1] Irwin and Madeline Caplan were married in 1948 when he returned to Seattle, where he teamed with illustrator Ted Rand and five other artists to form Graphic Studios, creating corporate logos and a variety of advertising artwork.

[2] In the late 1940s through the early 1960s, Caplan's distinctive, crisp cartoon style appeared in Collier's, Esquire, Liberty, Life, Parade and other leading publications.

An image of Caplan's remaining wreckage was distributed to newspapers as an AP Wirephoto under the headlines, "Mudslide Carries Half a House into Puget Sound" and "It's Now a Split Level".