Herbert Rogoff

1927 - 2018

Rogoff, Herbert
May 12, 1927 - June 17, 2018
Herbert Rogoff, cartoonist, illustrator, writer, and comic book editor, died on June 17 at his home in Sarasota, Florida. He was 91. For more than 25 years he and his business and life partner, painter Helen Van Wyk, promoted oil painting with a series of art instruction magazines and books, and the PBS program "Welcome to My Studio," for which he served as executive producer.
Herbert Walter Rogoff was born in Brooklyn in 1927, the third child of Abraham and Anna Rogoff. From childhood he wanted to be a cartoonist. Graduating from New York's High School of Music and Art in 1944, he served in the United States Marines as World War II ended, reporting on sports and drawing cartoons for the Camp Lejeune Globe.
He broke into New York's comic book world in the late 1940s, working at MLJ Comics (later Archie Comics) and Hillman Periodicals before landing at Ziff-Davis Publishers, soon becoming comic book editor. Following the Korean War, he transformed the combat-oriented "G. I. Joe" into a bestselling humor book about army life. He also adapted the hit Danny Kaye movie Hans Christian Andersen into a 100-page comic. When Ziff-Davis sold its comics line, he became art editor for the book division, then freelanced as cartoonist and commercial artist.
In 1959, Herb joined M. Grumbacher Art Supplies, becoming public relations director in 1962. There he met his future second wife, Helen Van Wyk; his first marriage, to Diane Rogoff, ended in divorce. Together he and Helen toured the nation, with Helen giving painting demonstrations to promote Grumbacher products. Herb also initiated, edited, and co-wrote, with Helen, Grumbacher's art instruction magazine, "Palette Talk."
Herb kept cartooning for various periodicals and wrote comics for Gold Key Publishing, including "Rocky and Bullwinkle" and the high school comic "Wally." He drew over 8300 illustrations for Martin Sternberg's "American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Dictionary," published in 1981.
Herb and Helen moved to Rockport, Massachusetts, in 1969, establishing Art Instruction Associates. They published "Color Mixing Recipes," a painting periodical, as well as 16 popular books on painting instruction.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Herb produced 130 half-hour episodes of Helen's television series, "Welcome to My Studio," which ran on more than 200 PBS stations. A new instructional magazine, "Alla Prima," published from 1991 to 1993, folded when Helen became terminally ill. She died in 1994.
Herb moved permanently to Florida in 1997. In 2010 he began a blog about his life and experiences for a now-defunct website, and in 2018, he published these essays in "The Herb Garden: Self-Portraits of a Lucky Guy."
Herb is survived by two children from his first marriage—a son, Jay, of Saratoga Springs, New York, married to Penny Jolly, and a daughter, Leslie, of New York City—and by his partner of over twenty years, Shirleen King.
The family plans a private burial in Rockport; instead of flowers, they invite memorial donations to the American Cancer Society or any other non-religious charity.