By Lesley Topping

Among the remarkable people who have lived in Scarsdale is the renowned cartoonist and illustrator, Jack Davis. His zany cartoons helped shape the satirical humor of Mad Magazine.  His illustrations for hundreds of news magazines, movie posters, books and comics have inspired illustrators for generations and are enjoyed by people around the world. Less known is that as a resident of Scarsdale for many years, he also generously donated his art and illustrations to the community.

Jack and his wife, Dena raised their two children in Scarsdale and were always involved in neighborhood activities. Jack donated his sketches for fund raising auctions for the Scarsdale Historical Society’s Cudner-Hyatt House Museum and he illustrated several covers for the Society’s journal. He developed a cartoon series for the Scarsdale Inquirer about the adventures of a suburban family called the Villagers and he contributed sketches for many Inquirer articles. As an avid sports fan he designed posters and t-shirts for the Scarsdale High School’s football and basketball teams.

Today, The Fox Meadow Tennis Club on Wayside Lane proudly displays a series of sketches by Davis, which lovingly poke fun at Paddle Tennis players. Friends remember Davis as a gentleman with a rascal sense of humor. Rick Reuter, who lived next door to Davis, said that Jack often drew caricatures of his friends and members of the Scarsdale Golf Club.“ We played tennis on Saturday mornings,” said Reuter, “In the winter we would play platform tennis.” They also both volunteered as Scout Masters at St. James the Less Church. Reuter laughingly recalled that while he was renovating his own home, Jack came over and said, “Oh, you do all this stuff, can you help me?” Rick would often lend him a hand with fixing problems in his house. When Davis made a drawing of Rick he displayed him with all his tools and varied interests. Rick’s wife, Karen, was an artist, and she was the colorist for many of Jack Davis’ drawings.

The Davis Family moved back to Jack’s hometown state of Georgia, in the 1990s where he lived until he passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.

Scroll down to see more samples of Jack Davis’ work and visit these links:

A Jack Davis Sampling by Drew Friedman
Tributes to Jack Davis at The Comics Journal