News of Yore 1940: Death of Harry Homan

Harry E. Homan, News Cartoonist

Brooklyn Eagle (New York), July 21, 1940:

Harry Elmer Homan, editorial cartoonist for United Feature Syndicate and a resident of Hempstead, died of a heart attack yesterday in the home of his brother-in-law, Edward C. Crumlish, at Townsend, Del. He was 51.

Mr. Homan, who was on vacation when he died, was with United Feature Syndicate for six years, a job which resulted from a series of political cartoons which he did in behalf of Judge Frederick Kernochan during the electoral campaigns of 1933.

For years he was a leading member of the art staff of the Barron Collier organization and previously was art director of the Odets Advertising Agency. He was also connected with the Handel Company as a designer of ornamental metals.

During the war he enlisted in the Coastal Artillery of the New York National Guard and was later transferred to the Topographic Mapping Service of the 472d Engineers.

During his life he studied under Dean Cornwell and became his assistant, and learned painting with Charles Rosen and Charles Hawthorne. He was born on Feb. 18, 1889.

Surviving are his widow, the former Miss Marguerite Crumlish; four sons, Robert, Edward, Richard and David, and a daughter, Ann. He lived at 117 Pennsylvania Ave. in Hempstead.

Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at his brother-in-law's home in Delaware. Burial will be in the Wilmington-Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington.

According to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Harry Elmer Homan was the only child of Frank and Emma; they lived in Meriden, Connecticut. In 1910 his mother was the head of the household; his occupation was designer at a novelty factory. They remained in Meriden. On June 5, 1917 Homan signed his World War I draft card which had his middle name. In 1920 he lived in Brooklyn, New York at 407 Adelphi Street. The census recorded his occupation as "Art League School." Homan had a wife and three children at the time of the 1930 census; he had married around 1922. They lived in Hempstead (Long Island), New York at 100 Albemarle Avenue. He was a commercial artist. His Sunday strip, Billy Make Believe, started on July 22, 1934.