Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) 1949-2010

-

I learned the news yesterday that my friend, the great Cuban cartoonist known as Tomy, had died suddenly of a heart ailment on Sept. 6, 2010. I was lucky enough to have corresponded with Tomy for many pleasant years. I could always count on a collection of new cartoons or photos in his messages.

tomy-mural

There are many tributes already written about this great cartoonist by friends and colleagues who knew him face to face. This example: http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2010/09/07/murio-el-caricaturista-cubana-tomas-rodriguez-zayas-tomy/ is available in Spanish only unfortunately. It was a dream of mine to have been able to visit Tomy in Havana one day but that was not to be. Memories of our email discussions will have to suffice now. Farewell, friend. I am better for having known you.

The following cartoons by Tomy were the last I received several weeks ago.

 British Petroleum Hielo

Tragedia Europea   Autodestrucción    

Seguro de Salud

Mural SC 2

 Mural SC

My condolences and best wishes for Tomy’s family and colleagues.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Fourth of July Memory

-
This Fourth of July holiday stirred memories of this same day ‌forty-eight years ago. That day was the big US celebration of the Bicentennial--200 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I was fifteen years old. My memory of the 1976 Fourth of July was that of a quiet, boring day in the country. Once again, Dad was hiding out in Pittsburgh leaving Mom and me to ourselves. We lived in a new mobile home that was parked on an isolated eight acres of former orchards between Delmont and New Alexandria, Pa. The orchards had long ago run wild. Only a few peach trees remained but red apples and yellow apples were everywhere. There is nothing like the absolute joy of climbing a tree, sitting in the branches and plucking a ripe apple to eat. I remember the day as hot and sunny. While records show the temperature during the day was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit and the skies cloudy, my memory could be faulty but I remember the sun beating down on me from blue skies while I gril...
Read more

A Mention In The Independent

-
Too bad I stumbled upon an email from The Independent's Tehran correspondent, Angus McDowall too late. The email ended up in my Yahoo email which I only use as a spam trap. An article was published today about the Iranian public's ho-hum reaction to the "Holocaust" cartoon exhibition. I was pleased to see that I was treated fairly. "The cartoons included US, European, Brazilian, Korean and Chinese entries. However, the US cartoonist David Baldinger said that his drawing "in no way ridiculed the Holocaust". It is best to let people determine what is propaganda and what is not. Most of the time intelligent people know the difference. Sane people, I would think, don't place value on government statements refuting the Jewish Holocaust's historical fact. I doubt Iranian president Ahmadinejad even believes his statements. He is engaging in what I would call "political mooning". A bare ass sticking in the world's face gets a lot of atten...
Read more