'Bullwinkle' Creator Alexander Anderson Jr. Dies at 90

Alexander Anderson Jr., the creator of the television cartoon characters "Rocky" the flying squirrel and "Bullwinkle" the moose, died at a rest home near his Pebble Beach, Calif., home, last Friday. He was 90.

Anderson, whose uncle Paul Terry created cartoons such as "Mighty Mouse" and "Heckle and Jeckle," created Rocky and Bullwinkle about a decade before "Rocky and His Friends" debuted on ABC in 1959, according to the Los Angeles Times. Anderson and U.C. Berkeley fraternity brother Jay Ward hatched the concept, as well as characters such as "Dudley Do-Right," as part of their Berkeley, Calif.-based Television Arts Productions, and Ward later produced the "Rocky" show. Ward died in 1989.

Anderson split from Ward about two years before "Rocky" first aired, and went into advertising in San Francisco, the Times reported, citing Anderson's son Terry.

Anderson settled a lawsuit with Jay Ward Productions over the rights to the Rocky, Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right characters in 1993, according to the Times.