Farewell to legendary cartoonist Dov Fedler

Dov Fedler, the legendary South African cartoonist whose work chronicled the country and the world for an unbroken 50 years, has died.

He would have celebrated his 85th birthday on 21 January.

He drew more than 15 000 political cartoons during his career, starting with the short-lived Sunday Chronicle before moving to The Star, where he deservedly became a household name until his retirement in 2017.

He was also well known to readers of the Financial Mail, where he produced a weekly sketch for many years.

He was also published internationally in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and Britain’s Punch magazine.

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He conceived and drew Zibi, the much-loved anti-litter ostrich, which became the focal point of an enduring nationwide campaign through the ’80s.

A multi-talented artist across multiple forms, Fedler was an accomplished sculptor and oil painter.

In the final chapter of his life, he wrote a number of acclaimed books; his memoir Out of Line, Starlight Memories and Gagman, a graphic novel of the Holocaust that he co-wrote with his daughter, the Australian author Joanne Fedler.

Born Noah David Fedler, he grew up in Mayfair and was fascinated by comics, especially the work of Walt Disney and would spend hours drawing in his father’s Joburg print shop.

After school, he tried dentistry before dropping out and pursuing a career in advertising.

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It was at Wits Medical School however, where he would meet his wife, Dorinne Coomes, who predeceased him in 2022. The couple had three daughters – Carolyn, Joanna and Laura.

During the Covid lockdown, he published If you can write, you can draw, a wonderful handbook encouraging novice cartoonists to take the plunge.

The title was inspired by the philosophy that had driven him his entire life. “If you think you have no drawing ability you are wrong. We all draw before we learn to write,” he said at the time. “My aim is to teach you what you already know.”

He died on Saturday night and was buried, according to Jewish ritual, at the Westpark Cemetery on Sunday afternoon.