His editorial cartoons are syndicated in newspapers worldwide, as is his comic strip "Kudzu," which features a lovable cast of Southern characters. In collaboration with the Red Clay Ramblers, he developed a musical adaptation of the comic strip titled "Kudzu, A Southern Musical." It was staged at Duke University and at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. and has been published by Samuel French Co. The musical's cast album CD was released in 2003. Mr. Marlette was a passenger in a pickup truck bound for an Oxford, Miss., staging of the musical when the fatal accident occurred. He has won every major award for editorial cartooning, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for work done for the Charlotte Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has received the National Headliners Award for Consistently Outstanding Editorial Cartoons three times, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for editorial cartooning twice and First Prize in the John Fischetti Memorial Cartoon Competition twice. He is the only cartoonist ever awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has written an ethics column for Esquire and contributed to The New Republic, The Nation, Men's Journal, The Paris Review, Columbia Journalism Review and Salon.com. He co-wrote the screenplay, 'Ex' with Pat Conroy.

In 1993 the University of Newcastle at Newcastle-On-Tyne in England, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's first honorary doctorate bestowed there after receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, invited Marlette to exhibit his cartoons on race in America and lecture at a symposium of distinguished European scholars on the American South. Mr. Marlette's first novel, "The Bridge," was published by HarperCollins in October, 2001 and was voted Best Book of the Year for Fiction by the Southeast Booksellers Association in 2002. His second novel, "Magic Time," was published by Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2006 and is available in paperback.

Mr. Marlette was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 and inducted into the UNC Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002. He served on the UNC journalism school's board of visitors. He was appointed a Gaylord Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the University of Oklahoma's College of Journalism and Mass Communication for 2006-2007.

Mr. Marlette was known and loved for his wit, warmth, avid curiosity and piercing intelligence. The novelist Pat Conroy, a close friend, observed that "The breadth of his talents was breathtaking. He made the world funnier. He was interested in everything." Ed Williams, a friend and editor at The Charlotte Observer, called him a "true genius -- he was never afraid to take on new artistic challenges, and he excelled at all of them."

Mr. Marlette's survivors include his wife, Melinda Hartley Marlette, a son, Jackson, who is studying art in France; a brother, Chris Marlette and wife Peggy of Sanford, Florida; a sister, Marianne Marlette and husband Terry Neal of Mooresville, NC; and, many beloved aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to thank all their friends who visited Friday, July 13, 2007.

The funeral service was held at

Walnut Grove United Methodist Church
        just outside of Hillsborough, NC
1815 Hawkins Rd.
Hurdle Mills, NC 27541 on Saturday, July 14, 2007.

Arrangments were handled by:
  Walkers Funeral Home
  204 N. Churton St.
  Hillsborough, NC
  (919) 732-2121

Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to:

The Douglas N. Marlette Memorial Scholarship
c/o
Bank of America, Private Banking
101 S. Tryon St., NC 1-002-22-22
Charlotte, NC 28255
Attn: Richard Immesberger