10 Facts About Ed Dodd

Edward Benton Dodd was a 20th-century American cartoonist known for his Mark Trail comic strip.

Ed Dodd worked at Beard's camp in Pennsylvania for 13 summers, where he honed his writing and illustration skills under Beard's guidance.

Ed Dodd became a scoutmaster and the first paid youth and physical education director for the city of Gainesville, Georgia.

Likewise, Ed Dodd had a St Bernard named Andy, and owned a home and studio in a 130-acre forest in North Georgia that he named Lost Forest.

Mark Trail was written by Ed Dodd and drawn by Tom Hill until the latter's death in 1978.

Ed Dodd then retired, and the strip was continued by his long-time assistant, Jack Elrod, and later by James Allen and Jules Rivera.

Ed Dodd enjoyed wide respect for his support of conservation, and among his honors was Georgia Conservationist of the Year in 1967.

Ed Dodd died in Gainesville in 1991, survived by his fourth wife, Rosemary, who still resides in Gainesville.

Ed Dodd's 130-acre Lost Forest is residential neighborhoods, one bearing the name "Lost Forest" with a street named "Mark Trail".

In 1996, the house formerly occupied by Ed Dodd in Lost Forest burned to the ground.