Vic Cantone hasn’t drawn for The Brooklyn Papers When Vic’s cartoons graced our front pages in the 1990s, he’d It was a great cartoon, one of my favorites, and it would have stood the After the U.S. Supreme Court library porn ruling on Monday, Vic called Over the years, Vic contributed to the Daily News, was syndicated by King We dropped our editorial page a few years back to devote more space to • • •
Several months ago, Vic was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Recently, he made it to his son’s graduation, with honors, from Northeastern “At least Lou Gehrig was a champion,” Vic said the other day.
A Maimonides win
It’s said you can tell the quality of an individual by his or her Among the recognizable faces was Brier’s husband, Peter Aschkenasy, Hospitals are odd institutions. On the one hand, they are big businesses, But when you need medical help, it’s important that there’s
in quite a while, but he remains one of our most loyal readers, and I
one of his ardent fans.
hop on the Long Island Railroad from his home in Bethpage, sketchboard
and inks in hand, and find an open desk in our Court Street office — ready
to express his view, or ours. One week, amidst an exploding controversy
in Bay Ridge over plans by developer Charles Katz to build what The Papers
labeled a “mega-mall,” Vic captured the spirit of all the protagonists,
including Katz (depicted as a well-fed feline) and then-City Council candidate
Marty Golden.
test on its own. Then, one of our staffers suggested the addition of fleas
to the space around Katz’s face, and fleas became a trademark in
Vic’s ongoing mega-mall rendition.
to remind me of his February 1999 cartoon that featured a mop-topped youngster
sitting atop volumes of the once-censored “Ulysses” and “Tropic
of Cancer” while viewing adult porn on a library computer. Early
on, The Brooklyn Papers covered each side of the library computer porn
issue, and Vic’s cartoons exposed sensitivities on all sides.
Features and was active in local press organizations. He’d send me
the latest editions of “Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year,”
an annual volume in which one or more of his Brooklyn Papers cartoons
would invariably be represented; my son, a budding cartoonist, loves to
page through them.
news coverage, expecting to resume it “any day now.” We also
stopped running cartoons on our front page. Vic stood by, reading each
week’s editions, calling periodically to let us know he had lots
of ideas. We weren’t ready to resume the editorial page, we’d
demur.
Drawing with either hand is beyond him now, and the disease progresses.
University, an accomplishment and a joy for both parent and child. And
his wife encouraged him to attend a Deadline Club awards dinner —
it was a difficult trip from Bethpage to Manhattan — at the Marriott
Marquis, where he was presented with an award for distinguished service.
As is Vic Cantone.
friends; on that basis, evidenced by those in attendance at Monday’s
Borough Hall reception for Pamela Brier, the new president and CEO of
Maimonides Medical Center, the hospital is clearly privileged in its leadership.
whose smile lit the room while his wife spoke. Peter, former owner of
Gage & Tollner, is active in Brooklyn’s arts community.
very big, that tend to be imposing entities — and not always appreciated
— in their communities.
one nearby, and you’re grateful if it’s one that meets the standards
of Maimonides.
