Jeff Pert, the Maine artist whose moose and lobster cartoons on souvenirs make tourists laugh, is being memorialized by family and friends with a fund that will benefit a favorite writing program.

Pert, a Winslow native who most recently lived in Brunswick, died in April. He was best known for his cartoons, which were published in local media and adorned magnets, postcards and mugs in souvenir shops, but he was also a writer of horror and dark fantasy.

Pert was a longtime member of a Maine writers’ group and in 2006 was selected to attend the Odyssey Writing Workshop in New Hampshire, a respected program for writers of fantasy, horror and science fiction. The summer workshop, according to his family, was a pivotal experience for him.

In an April Morning Sentinel story, childhood friend Jon Dumont said pert was always creative.

But as they grew older, “We just weren’t quite sure where, in a dying mill town, we could fit in,” Dumont said. “We were never gonna drive trucks.”

Dumont said Pert eventually found his place. “His fantasy life is where he flourished and where he lived,” Dumont said.

The Jeff Pert Memorial Fund will finance the appearance of a guest lecturer at each Odyssey workshop. To help raise money for the fund, Pert’s family has donated two books from his collection that he prized the most: signed copies of Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone” and “Danse Macabre.”

The books will be auctioned on eBay in a special event. To participate in the auction, or get more details, contact Odyssey director Jeanne Cavelos at jcavelos@sff.net or call 603-673-6234.

Donations to the fund can be made at sff.net/odyssey/donations.html, or by mail: Odyssey, P.O. Box 75, Mont Vernon, N.H., 03057. Specify that the donation should go to the Jeff Pert Memorial Fund.

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