Footrot Flats creator Murray Ball has been remembered as a wonderful husband, kind friend and beloved part of New Zealand history.
Murray Ball and The Dog, in a documentary about the making of 1986 Footrot Flats film The Dog's Tale. Photo: Screenshot / NZ On Screen
Mr Ball died yesterday surrounded by family and friends, eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Born in Feilding in 1939, he was one of New Zealand's most successful cartoonists.
Fellow cartoonist Tom Scott says Mr Ball "captured rural life as exquisitely and as perfectly as Katherine Mansfield caught early Wellington. He was as funny as Fred Dagg and Billy T. James and as blokey as Barry Crump. He covered a lot of territory."
He spoke to our reporter Catherine Hutton about his mentor and friend.
