"Mad" magazine editor Al Feldstein works on page layout in his office at the magazine's New York headquarters in 1972.
- Al Feldstein, editor of Mad magazine for 29 years, dies at age 88
- Originally an artist, Feldstein joined EC Comics, Mad's publisher, in the 1940s
- Mad captured society's cynicism, he said: "It was the reaffirmation of those feelings in print"
(CNN) -- Al Feldstein, who guided Mad magazine for almost three decades as its editor, has died, according to a Montana funeral home. He was 88.
He died Tuesday in his home in Livingston, Montana, Franzen-Davis Funeral Home & Crematory's website said.
Feldstein edited Mad from 1955 to 1984 when the magazine was the most widely read satirical publication in America. He was responsible for bringing on some of the "Usual Gang of Idiots" -- the Mad staffers and freelancers who filled its pages with their caricatures, puns and general wackiness.
"We were all saddened to see Al's passing," said John Ficarra, Mad's current editor-in-chief, in a statement. "It's impossible to overstate his importance to Mad. He took over Mad when it was transitioning from comic book to magazine and much of what the nation knows to be as Mad. He attracted many of the talents that went on to become legends -- Don Martin, Al Jaffee, Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones ... to list just a few of the many. The result of his work in Mad can be seen in a lot of comedy media today."
Mad, which was started by writer Harvey Kurtzman and part of the EC Comics stable of William M. "Bill" Gaines," was successful because it called out society's hypocrisy, Feldstein told the Onion A.V. Club in 2007.
Click through to see people who passed away in 2014. 
Al Feldstein, who guided Mad magazine for almost three decades as its editor, died on April 29, according to a Montana funeral home. He was 88. 
Oscar-nominated British actor Bob Hoskins, known for roles in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa," died April 29 at age 71, his publicist said. 
Hall of Fame basketball coach John "Dr. Jack" Ramsay, who became a television analyst years after winning a league championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, died on April 28, according to his longtime employer ESPN. Ramsay was 89. 
Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova, who had been battling cancer, died at the age of 45, the club announced April 25. 
Country singer Kevin Sharp died from "complications due to cancer" on April 19, his mother told CNN. He was 43. 
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the middleweight boxing contender who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the 1960s, died April 20 at the age of 76, according to Win Wahrer, the director of client services for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. 
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the influential, Nobel Prize-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," passed away on April 17, his family and officials said. He was 87. 
Jose Luis "Cheo" Feliciano, a giant of salsa music and a Puerto Rican legend, died in a car crash April 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to police. He was 78. 
Days after being inducted into World Wrestling Entertainment's Hall of Fame, WWE superstar Ultimate Warrior died April 8. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. He was 54. 
Comedian John Pinette, 50, was found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room on April 5. Pinette died of natural causes stemming from "a medical history he was being treated for," the medical examiner's spokesman said. An autopsy will not be done because his personal doctor signed the death certificate. 
Mickey Rooney, who started as a child star in vaudeville and went on to star in hundreds of movies and TV shows, died April 6 at the age of 93. 
DJ Frankie Knuckles, a legendary producer, remixer and house music pioneer, died March 31 at the age of 59. 
Kate O'Mara, the British actress best known for playing Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s show "Dynasty," died March 30. She was 74. 
Ralph C. Wilson Jr., the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, died at age 95, the team announced March 25. 
Gwar lead singer Dave Brockie died March 23 at the age of 50, his manager said. The heavy-metal group formed in 1984, billing itself as "Earth's only openly extraterrestrial rock band." Brockie performed in the persona of Oderus Urungus. 
James Rebhorn, whose acting resume includes a long list of character roles in major films and TV shows, died March 21, his representative said. Rebhorn was 65. 
L'Wren Scott, a noted fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger, was found dead of an apparent suicide March 17, according to a law enforcement official. She was 49. 
Drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded and played drums for the influential proto-punk band The Stooges, died March 15. He was 64. 
Comedian David Brenner, a regular on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died after a battle with cancer, a family spokesman said March 15. He was 78. 
Actress Sheila MacRae, who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of "The Honeymooners" on "The Jackie Gleason Show," died on March 6, according to her family. She was 92. 
Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, seen here in 2006, died February 25 of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. De Lucia transformed the folk art of flamenco music into a more vibrant modern sound. 
Actor, writer and director Harold Ramis, seen here on the far left with fellow "Ghostbusters" Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, died at his Chicago-area home on February 24. He was 69. Other popular Ramis films include "Stripes," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This." 
Maria von Trapp, seen here posing with a photo of her family, was the last of the singing siblings immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music." She died February 18 of natural causes at her Vermont home, according to her family. She was 99. 
Journalist Garrick Utley died at age 74 following a long battle with cancer, his wife of 40 years said in February. Utley worked for CNN after his 30-year career at NBC News. 
Devo guitarist Bob Casale, known by fans as "Bob 2," died February 17, his brother and band mate announced. Casale was 61. 
John Henson, the son of Jim Henson who is perhaps most notable for his portrayal of Sweetums on "The Muppets," died after a "sudden, massive heart attack," his family's company said on February 15. 
Veteran actor Ralph Waite died at 85 on February 13, according to an accountant for the Waite family and a church where the actor was a regular member. Waite was best known for his role as John Walton Sr. on 'The Waltons." 
Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," died on February 12. He was 91. 
Hollywood child star Shirley Temple, who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85. 
Joan Mondale, the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church. 
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2. 
Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg." 
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94. 
Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95. 
Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known. 
Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91. 
Russell Johnson, center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89. 
Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85. 
Franklin McCain, seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University. 
Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74. 
Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79. 
Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said. 
Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86. 
Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica. 
Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98. 
Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74. Photos: People we lost in 2014 
They are the mighty mainstays of Mad, some for more than 50 years. Here's a look at the "Usual Gang of Idiots." Caricatures by Tom Richmond. 
Al Jaffee, 90, is best known for the Mad Fold-in and "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." He's been contributing since 1955. 
Jack Davis, 87, was the artist of the very first article in the very first issue of Mad. An "absolute master," in the words of Jaffee, his drawings have illustrated movie posters, magazine covers and hundreds of issues of Mad. 
Paul Coker Jr., 81, created "Terrifying Cliches" for Mad, though most people probably know his TV work ("Frosty the Snowman") better. He's been a Gang member since 1961. 
Sergio Aragones, 74, will celebrate 50 years as a Mad contributor in 2012. The incredibly prolific artist created "The Shadow Knows" and the countless mini-cartoons known as "marginals." 
Sam Viviano, 58, was first published in Mad in 1981 and made the jump to art director in 1999. 
Tom Richmond, 45, has "only" been contributing to Mad for 11 years. The Wisconsin native is an outstanding caricaturist and often illustrates movie and TV parodies. Caricatures of themselves
'The Usual Gang of Idiots' "When Mad came about, it was the reaffirmation of those feelings in print. We were saying, 'Kids, Madison Avenue is lying to you. Your parents are lying to you. The president is lying to you,'" he said.
Kurtzman left Mad in 1955, and Feldstein took over. Under his guidance, the magazine was a no-holds-barred repository of movie parodies, witty verse, advertising take-offs, loopy comics and Al Jaffee's indescribable Mad Fold-In.
Nothing was sacred.
"Mad was wide open. Bill loved it, and he was a capitalist Republican. I loved it, and I was a liberal Democrat," Feldstein said. "That went for the writers, too; they all had their own political leanings, and everybody had a voice."
Feldstein was born in 1925 and began his career as an artist as a teenager. He joined EC in the late 1940s. Its founder (and the inventor of the comic book), Max Gaines, had just been killed in an accident, and the struggling company was in the hands of his son, William.
"I went down to meet this nerd with horn-rimmed glasses and a crew-cut named Bill Gaines. And I was with him for 35 years after that," Feldstein told the A.V. Club.
At the time, EC generally did romance and crime stories. (Originally, the company aspired to uplift -- the "EC" initially stood for "Educational Comics.") Feldstein, looking for an angle, suggested to Gaines that the company introduce a line of horror comics. They were known for their graphic art, witty writing and shock endings.
The first, "Tales from the Crypt," was an immediate hit. With its successors -- "Shock SuspenStories" and "Justice Traps the Guilty" among them -- EC was revived.
But the powers that be of the time -- notably fearful politicians and a psychiatrist named Fredric Wertham -- lashed out at EC's comics and succeeded in having them shut down. Gaines, however, had protected Mad, his humor comic, and changed it to a magazine to keep it out of the claws of the Comics Code Authority.
After leaving Mad, Feldstein returned to his first love, art. For decades he lived in Montana, specializing in the images and wildlife of the American West.
Mad was sold in the early 1960s to what eventually became Warner Communications. Today the title is part of the DC Comics group owned by Time Warner, CNN's parent company.
Feldstein is survived by his wife; a stepdaughter; and two grandsons, the funeral home's website said.
People we've lost in 2014
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