The community of Westbury recently lost one of its most famed and groundbreaking members. Brumsic Brandon Jr., the political cartoonist of “Luther,” one of the first African American cartoons to be nationally syndicated in the mainstream press, died on Nov. 28 at the age of 87.
Family members say Brandon Jr. passed away from complications of Parkinson’s disease in Cocoa Beach, FL where he had retired.
Brandon Jr. and his wife of 64 years, Rita, together raised their three children in Westbury. In fact much of his syndicated cartoon, which ran from 1968 to 1986, was created right inside of his Westbury home.
“Everyone loved being around my father,” said his son Brumsic Brandon III, who is a teacher at his alma mater, Westbury High School. “I would come home from school and find my friends already there sitting and talking with my dad.”
It was his father’s affable personality that helped drive the humor and compassion of his cartoon character “Luther.” The character, named after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was a third-grader growing up in an urban neighborhood.
Born on April 10, 1927 in Washington D.C., Brandon Jr. attended school in D.C.’s segregated Armstrong public school district. After that he went on to study art at New York University. Before being able to complete his degree however, he was drafted into the army during the U.S. occupation of Germany, even learning to speak German during his time there. When he returned from the army he and Rita were soon married, eventually settling in Westbury.
In addition to his work as a cartoonist, Brandon Jr. also appeared on a groundbreaking children’s television program from 1970-82 on WPIX-TV 11 entitled “Time for Joya” as the character Mr. BB. His character was aptly an artist. In addition to his acting work for the show, he also did the animation work as well.
Determined to have his character and column “tell it like it is,” Brandon Jr. spent 16 years chronicling the times and events of the decades as seen through the eyes of his character “Luther”, many of which were during the height of the civil rights movement.
Away from his sketchbook, the award winning cartoonist also played a pivotal role in some civil rights movements right in Westbury, including a move for integration in the Westbury School District.
“My father and others in the community protested against the ‘defacto’ segregation of the Westbury schools,” explained Brandon III. “It took about a year but they were successful, the schools became integrated.”
Brandon Jr.’s eldest daughter, Linda Brandon, remembers her father’s strong activism and deep sense of community pride. “My father loved living in Westbury. Our home was always filled with fun and laughter,” she said. “He was so open and warm that everybody always wanted to talk to him.”
Linda even decided to become an entertainment lawyer in honor of her father. “I chose my career path because I wanted to protect my father’s interests,” she said.
Of his three children, it was his youngest child, Barbara Brandon-Croft who followed her father into the family business. A groundbreaking columnist in her own right, Brandon-Croft became the first African American woman to have a nationally syndicated cartoon column, the satirical column, “Where I’m coming from.”
Growing up in Westbury, Brandon-Croft earned her allowance in an unconventional way. “My father tested our art abilities,” said Brandon-Croft. “Once he saw that I could draw he paid me to help with the now archaic ‘Zipatone’ procedure that was used back then when making comics.”
Although she grew up helping her famous father, and went on to study art in school, she hadn’t considered being a cartoonist until a woman on her first job interview after college made the suggestion. “I thought yes I can do that because I had done it all of those years for my father,” says Brandon-Croft.
Brandon Jr.’s sense of humor, love of jazz music and affinity for travel is what his three children remember most about their father. In fact some of their fondest family childhood memories, they equally agree, are the many family vacations the Brandon family took together through the years.
In addition to his wife and three children, Brandon Jr. is survived by three grandchildren, two brothers, and a sister.
