I don't have to come up with a ha-ha belly laugh every day, but drawings with warmth and love or ones that put a lump in the throat. That's more important to me than a laugh.

Keane was honored with the Silver T-Square Award from the National Cartoonist Society in 2002 for "outstanding dedication" to the Society and the cartooning profession. Thel the inspiration for the "Mommy" character in his long-running strip died on May 23 2008 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.

William Aloysius Keane (October 5 1922 – November 8 2011) better known as Bil Keane was an American cartoonist most notable for his work on the long-running newspaper comic The Family Circus. It began in 1960 and continues in syndication drawn by his son Jeff Keane.