titled The Merchant of Dennis the Menace chronicling his career. He retired from drawing the daily panel in 1994, when his former assistants, Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand, took over. At the time of Ketcham's death, Dennis the Menace was distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and 19 languages, by King Features Syndicate. Ketcham spent his last years in retirement at his home in Carmel, California, painting in oil and watercolor. Many of his paintings can be seen in a hospital in nearby Monterey. He died in Carmel on June 1, 2001 at the age of 81. He was survived by his oldest son, Dennis, his third wife, Rolande, and their two children, Dania and Scott. In 2005, Fantagraphics Books started publishing what was to be a complete Dennis by Ketcham from the start of the strip, collecting two years per volume, but the publishing ceased in 2009 with the 1961-1962 volume. Legacy The Dennis the Menace Playground was designed by Ketcham and with the help of sculptor Arch Garner in 1954. The playground opened on November 17, 1956 with children's play areas including a 1924 locomotive steam engine, donated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. A life-sized 3.5 foot tall, 200 pound bronze statue of cartoon strip character Dennis the Menace was displayed at the entrance to the playground. In recent years it has been stolen twice. The statue was sculpted by Wah Ming Chang, another Disney man who resided in Carmel Valley. References Further reading Ketcham, Hank. The Merchant of Dennis. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990. External links Hank Ketcham Tribute Hank Ketcham obituary 1920 births 2001 deaths American animators American cartoonists United States Navy personnel of World War II Deaths from cancer in California Dennis the Menace (U.S. comics) Deaths from prostate cancer Walt Disney Animation Studios people Walter Lantz Productions people Warner Bros. Cartoons people Artists from Seattle Reuben Award winners United States Navy sailors University of Washington alumni People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California United States Navy reservists American expatriates in Switzerland