Kurt Erichsen

American openly gay cartoonist and civil engineer, creator of the syndicated LGBT-themed comic strip

"Murphy's Manor", which ran for 1183 weekly strips from the 1980s until 2008. Erichsen won the Gay/Lesbian

Press Association award for Outstanding Achievement in Illustration in 1985 and 1987.

"Murphy's Manor" focused on the lives of gay men living together in the titular manor, in the fictional town of

Black Swamp, Ohio. The series was carried in about 70 papers over the course of its run. Another series he

produced was "The Sparkle Spinsters" about a trio of gay friends, inspired by Gilbert Shelton's "Freak

Brothers." He also produced a single-panel syndicated series called "GLIB Talk" from 2000 to 2006.

Erichsen attended Oregon State University, receiving a bachelor of science in Civil Engineering. The following

year he received a master's degree in Sanitary Engineering from Michigan State University. In 1979 he moved

to Toledo, Ohio, where he became vice president of environmental planning for the Toledo Metropolitan Area

Council of Governments, until his retirement on 31 January 2018.