Personal life

Jim Davis was born in Marion, Indiana on July 28, 1945. Davis grew up on a small farm in Fairmount, Indiana, with his father James William "Jim" Davis, mother Anna Catherine "Betty" (née Carter) Davis, brother Dave and 25 cats. Davis's childhood on a farm parallels the life of Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon is a cartoonist, who also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University where he studied art and business. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity.

Unlike the bachelor, Jon Arbuckle, Davis has been married twice, first to Carolyn (Altekruse), who was allergic to cats, though they owned a dog named Molly. They have a son, James Alexander Davis. On July 16, 2000, Davis married his current wife, Jill, and had two more children: Ashley and Christopher.

In April of 2016 it was announced that Jim Davis will become an adjunct faculty member at Ball State University in Muncie this fall.

Davis resides in Albany, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his Paws, Inc. company, launched in 1981. Paws, Inc. employs nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators, who work with agents around the world managing Garfield's vast licensing, syndication, and entertainment empire.

Davis is a former president of the Fairmount, Indiana FFA chapter.

Career

Prior to creating Garfield, Davis worked for an advertising agency, and in 1969, he began assisting Tom Ryan's comic strip, Tumbleweeds. He then created a comic strip, Gnorm Gnat, that ran for five years in The Pendleton Times, an Indiana newspaper. When Davis attempted to sell it to a national comic strip syndicate, an editor told him: "Your art is good, your gags are great, but bugs—nobody can relate to bugs!"

On June 19, 1978, Garfield started syndication in 41 newspapers. Today it is syndicated in 2,580 newspapers and is read by approximately 300 million readers each day.

In the 1980s, Davis created the barnyard slapstick comic strip U.S. Acres. Outside the U.S., the strip was known as Orson's Farm. Davis, along with Brett Koth, also made a 2000-03 strip based on the Mr. Potato Head toy.

Davis founded the Professor Garfield Foundation to support children's literacy.

His influences include Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois, Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon and Johnny Hart's B.C.

Awards

Year	Award	Presenting Organization& Sciences
1984-85	Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield in the Rough, TV special, CBS
1985	Elzie Segar Award for Contributions to Cartooning	National Cartoonist Society
1986	Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Halloween Adventure, TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1986	Best Strip	National Cartoonist Society
1988-89	Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Babes and Bullets, TV special, CBS	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
1988	Sagamore of the Wabash	State of Indiana
1989	Reuben Award for Overall Excellence in Cartooning	National Cartoonist Society
1989	Indiana Arbor Day Spokesman Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	Indiana Division of Natural Resources and Forestry
1990	Good Steward Award, (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	National Arbor Day Foundation
1991	Indiana Journalism Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield)	Ball State University Department of Journalism
1992	Distinguished Hoosier	State of Indiana
1995	Project Award	National Arbor Day Foundation
1997	LVA Leadership Award (Presented to Paws)	Literacy Volunteers of America

[ Source: Wikipedia ]