Leonard Sansone, Famed Artist, Killed in Crash-This Day In Norwood History-October 17, 1963

Word has been received here of the recent death In an automobile accident in Miami, Fla., of Leonard Sansone, 46, former Norwood resident and nationally known artist, who won fame during World War II as the creator of the famed cartoon character “GI Wolf.”

Sansone, who had made his home in Miami for the past 15 years, met instant death when his car in which he was returning from his office overturned a few blocks from his home at 7215 SW 61st Street.

Sansone had a host of friends in Norwood where he was born in 1917. He made his home at 88 Cedar Street. His interest in art dates back to his days at Norwood High School where he was president of his graduating class in 1935 and worked on the yearbook. Following high school he enrolled at the Massachusetts School of Art, graduated from there in 1939, and then moved to New York. One month after Pearl Harbor, Sansone was inducted into the Army and landed at Fort Belvoir, Va. It was there that he evolved the GI cartoon character, the Wolf, which won him a transfer to Yank, the Army magazine, and eventual fame.

As a member of Camp Newspaper Service, a subsidiary of Yank, Sansone produced the “Wolf” cartoons for distribution to service newspapers around the world. By the end of the war, “Wolf”, had appeared in some 1600 weekly newspapers.

By 1944 the cartoon character created by Sansone was so famous that Life magazine did feature bn the artist, reproducing 16 of his cartoons. A year later he wrote and illustrated the book, “Wolf,” which was essentially a collection of his cartoons.

After World War II, in 1946, Sansone signed with United Features Syndicate to continue producing the “Wolf.” After a year the cartoonist introduced “Willie” into the “Wolf” panel, and soon the new character took over completely in strip form.

Besides his creation of “Wolf” and “Willie”, Sansone illustrated such books as “Semi-Private”, “Chain of Command”, and “Private Purky’s Private Peace.”
Since moving to Florida the artist had been engaged in free-lance advertising art, designing layouts, cartoons, and TV commercials, and had recently organized Florida Advertising Art, Inc., at 3840 W. Flagler.

Sansone was the recipient of a number of art awards and held membership in several local and national organizations in connection with his profession. As a member of the National Cartoonists’ Society, he was selected as one of 49 artists to have lunch with President Harry S. Truman in November of 1951 in connection with the sale of Defense Bonds.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Emily Sansone; a daughter Maggie, 14; and a son, Peter,’17; his father, Pat Sansone of 88 Cedar Street, Norwood, a retired Bird & Son employee, and a sister, Mrs. Charles (Angie) Saraca, also of Norwood.

Services were held at the Gordon Funeral Home in Miami.

(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)