Shel Dorf, Founder of San Diego’s Comic-Con International, Passes Away at Age 76

Shell Dorf & Jack Kirby

I just found out that Shel Dorf, the founder of the San Diego Comic-Con (now Comic-Con International) passed away on November 3rd, at age 76, from complications related to Diabetes, in Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. His brother, Michael Dorf, was at his side.

Shel Dorf was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 5, 1933. He studied at Chicago’s Art Institute before moving to New York and beginning his career as a freelancer in the field of commercial design.

Dorf was a fan of comic books and comic strips, particularly Chester Gould’s work on the daily strip Dick Tracy. He was eventually employed as a consultant on Warren Beatty’s big-screen adaptation of the strip in 1990.

In the 1960s Dorf had made the acquaintance of a number of creators working in the two fields, among them Jack Kirby, upon whom Dorf would occasionally call.

In 1964, Robert Brusch organised a convention for fans of the medium, and the next year Jerry Bails and Dorf took over the event, christening it the “Detroit Triple Fan Fair” and organizing it as an annual event. In 1970, the year Dorf moved to San Diego, California, where he organized a one-day convention “as a kind of ‘dry run’ for the larger convention he hoped to stage,” with Forrest J Ackerman was the star attraction.

Dorf’s first three-day San Diego comics convention, the Golden State Comic-Con, was held at the U. S. Grant Hotel from August 1-3, 1970. It would eventually grow into the San Diego Comic-Con International. The con moved in subsequent years to the El Cortez Hotel; the University of California, San Diego; and Golden Hall, before settling into the San Diego Convention center in 1991.

There is Shell Dorf Memorial has been set up at http://www.sheldorftribute.com/, and has testimonials about Dorf from friends, family, and comic con guests.