Cuban-born comics artist and writer Ric Estrada died 1 May 2009 after a long battle with prostate cancer. Born 26 February 1928 in Havana, Cuba, he made his first pro sale at the age of 13, and went on to draw for EC, DC, and the Mormon church. He was also known for his political cartoons, advertising, and storyboarding.
After attending the University of Havana, Estrada met Ernest Hemingway, who helped facilitate his move to New York City, where he attended the New York Art Students League, New York University, and the New School for Social Research. He lived and worked in New York, and then Berlin, West Germany, before joining the Mormon church and returning to New York. Much of his work was on superheroes—including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman—though he had a preference for war titles. He created or first drew Lady Shiva, Professor Ojo, Amethyst, and Karate Kid, and co-created Power Girl with Joe Orlando. He also worked on detective, romance, and horror stories for DC.
Wikipedia writes that, “while working on GI Combat #169 for DC Comics, Ric filled a page shortage with an account from the Book of Ether, a short book of scripture contained in the Book of Mormon. That story came to the attention of Hugh W. Pinnock who was in charge of creating a comic-style adaptation of the New Testament for the LDS church, and in 1980 Estrada drew all the pictures for that book, which remained in print for twenty-five years, and is now freely available” at this link.
Comic Fodder has a personal obituary at this link.
Estrada was married three times, and had at least nine children.