Brief Bio
 

George "Buzz" Gambill is  an editorial cartoonist by trade, having illustrated for magazines, individual clients and many newspapers over a period of some forty years including 18 years cartooning and illustrating for the former Desert Hot Springs newspaper, The Desert Sentinel.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, Buzz grew up in a Christian family, the descendants of farmers. The son of an entrepreneur who had his own taxi company by the age of 23, Buzz's dad Bill, owned some five Taxi companies, during and after WWII and was a proud farmer most of his life, eventually becoming a custom combine company owner, hiring out combine crews to farmers in Oklahoma and neighboring states, to harvest their wheat, maize, barley and soy bean crops. During summer hiatus from school, Buzz, along with his two beautiful sisters Marilynn and Sue, helped his father, driving a wheat truck at first, and finally becoming a seasoned  wheat harvester, manning the big John Deere combines, the largest made at the time.

Upon joining the Navy a few days after high school graduation, he was stationed in Hawaii where he worked on deck as an apprentice Boatswain's Mate, splicing wire cables into strong lines for tying ships to dock. He qualified on Navy water craft, such as the LCM. (Landing Craft Medium) This is the boat that during WWII brought the Marines to shore in bloody battles, which was called "storming the beachhead."  During his time in the Navy, he created a comic strip called "Salty the Seaman", which was carried by The Pearl Harbor Times, the base newspaper in Honolulu, Hawaii. This was his first professionally published comic-strip. He was later told that the comic strip appeared in the famous "Stars & Stripes" military publication.

Although not a professional journalist, Buzz was nominated to become the local newspaper publisher for Desert Hot Springs by his peers and local business persons, when the 53 year old Desert Sentinel was purchased and moved to another city under a different name, leaving the town without a newspaper.

With little experience in newspaper publishing, but somewhat knowledgeable in art and graphics, through self-educating and gained experience, he learned by trial and error. So far it has worked positively for him and the community it serves. The Valley Breeze has been well accepted since its inception.

The Valley Breeze newspaper started in October 1999, as a political flyer, but an official date was set of January 1, 2000. From this four-page flyer, the Valley Breeze, through careful planning and first quality artwork, has grown to a 20 to 24 page, 6,000/7000 circulation tabloid, offering local news, entertainment and full color, with a readership of approximately 15,000. The illustrations and cartoons are done by Buzz, unless otherwise noted. Since its inception, the 'Breeze' has been overwhelmingly accepted by the city and community and the Coachella Valley, which it serves.

There are plans for the future of the Valley Breeze and it will continue to bring valley news, local events, entertainment, and service, along with the best advertising rates in the area.

Awards: Business person of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Rotarian of the Year, and Corky Larson's coveted Senior Inpiration Award, including many varied certificates and citations, along with the title of Rotary District 5220 Official Cartoonist.

Buzz has been syndicated by Singer Communications Inc., for his celebrity caricatures comics, "Star Trivia" and for "MURFY", a one panel cartoon by The New York Cartoon Company. He has established his own cartoon syndicate called GAGS. (Gambill Arts & Graphix Syndicate)

Contact Buzz at Editor@thevalleybreeze.com or for cartoons, gagstoons@aol.com.