Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey comic strip, dies at 94

New York

MORT Walker, the creator of Beetle Bailey, a comic strip about an Army private who malingered his way through seven decades at Camp Swampy to the consternation of his commanding officers and the delight of his fans in the armed forces and beyond, died on Saturday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 94.

Walker's death was confirmed by his son Brian Walker.

Walker had the longest tenure of any cartoonist on an original creation, King Features, which began its syndication of Beetle Bailey in 1950, said in a statement.

"Little did I know when I was drafted that I was going to get almost four years of free research," Walker recalled in his collection The Best of Beetle Bailey (1984). "The Army thoughtfully sent me to …