Anthony D'Adamo, of Northport, illustrator for Newsday, dies at 94

The pencil was like a part of Anthony D’Adamo’s arm during a lifetime of compulsion to draw what was in his head. Night constellations. Weird old laws. Whimsical holiday tableaus.

The illustrator showcased a versatility that spanned seven decades, including 16 years at Newsday, family and friends said. He created the art for comic strips, novel covers, Coca-Cola ads, the popular "Draw 50” book series for budding artists, fun baseball cards of fictional players, and magazines. He impressed friends with painted portraits in his home studio, where operas played while he worked.

His pieces are denoted by a good amount of cross-hatching, control of watercolors and expressive faces, illustrators said.

"You could tell Tony’s artwork from everybody else’s because he was an original," said artist John Pennisi. "He would just say, ‘I’m just drawing what’s in my head.’ Sometimes he would have a dream and just get up and start sketching.

"He drew until the day he was really sick. He wanted to die with his pencil in his hand."

D’Adamo, a freelance illustrator after retiring from Newsday in 1995, died on Sept. 15. The Northport resident was 94.

Like fellow Newsday artists, D’Adamo understood and distilled a story into a single sketch on deadline. His work adorned section covers, ads and major projects, including "Long Island: Our Story," a hardcover history book. He was recognized with the Publisher’s Award for graphic arts.

He also dreamed up several of Newsday’s art series. In one newsroom favorite, his love of history and droll humor merged into the cartoon series "Laws from Long Ago." One centuries-old law barred walking pigs on beaches, so D’Amado had men in Colonial garb walking pigs on beaches.

"He was a delight to work with," said Dan van Benthuysen, Newsday’s former director of design. "He might have three or four little sketches in pencil on his drawing board roughed out, and even as you’re talking with him, his hand would kind of gravitate toward what was emerging as his favorite idea.

"Talking to him was like talking to Perry Como, the singer — kind of suave, low key, Italian descent and cultured."

His nickname was the "godfather" in the Berndt Toast Gang, the Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, because he drew "Honor the Godfather," a graphic novel spoofing the mob, penned by his friend Nick Meglin, who was a key editor at Mad magazine.

Far from threatening, the cartoonist "never met a stranger," said his daughter Lisa D'Adamo-Weinstein, of Albany: "He always made friends and made people feel comfortable."

As a kid, the Bronx-born Tony knew art was his element, and earned his degree from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He fulfilled his boyhood comic book dream while working at Fiction House, which published his "Space Scout" feature, about two men helping a distant alien save his planet.

The Korean War interrupted in 1952, sending him overseas with an Army artillery unit. But he was happy he could teach a drawing class for soldiers, his family said. He was discharged in 1954, sometimes joking, "I saved the country," friends said.

"I think experience in the military made him value freedom, and he would do whatever he could to let you know how lucky we are," said Adrian Sinnott, president of the Berndt Toast Gang.

After the war, D’Adamo was a senior illustrator for 17 years at the McGraw-Hill education resources company. As a lifelong freelancer, he was in demand for Random House, Field and Stream and Woman’s Day magazines, Rand McNally, children’s books, authors and many others, his family said.

In 1961, he invited an "intoxicating beauty" lunching alone in a restaurant to sit with his group, but Carmen Soto had to go back to her bank job, D'Adamo-Weinstein said. Soto and D’Adamo eventually dined together, marrying in 1962.

The pair often held hands and went dancing every Friday for years.

"They were like one person," said Roberta Fabiano, a cartoonist and musician. "There was a glow and a love that you definitely felt between the two of them."

D’Adamo-Weinstein remembers her father always finding life’s positives: "He would say, ‘Honey, make sure at the end of the day you can look yourself in the mirror and know you did the right thing, even if it was the hard thing.’ ”

Besides D'Adamo-Weinstein, he also is survived by his wife, Carmen D'Adamo, of Northport; and children Anthony D’Adamo, of Albany, and Adriana Barrows, of Northport.

A funeral Mass was celebrated Sept. 20 at Church of St. Joseph in Kings Park, followed by burial at St. Philip Neri Cemetery in East Northport.