Cartoonist Phil Frank, known for his work on the comic strips “Farley” and “The Elderberries,” passed away Thursday, aged 64.

The artist suffered from a brain tumor. He had announced his retirement only days before, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Frank’s comics appeared in the Chronicle for 32 years.

Frank was best known for his comic strip “Farley,” focused on its homonymous main character, a newspaper reporter. The artist once described the comic strip as “really a horizontal column, documenting the life and times of the characters in the Bay Area.”

Frank had been ill for several months when he announced on Sept. 7 that he would retire due to health problems.

“Farley” first appeared in 1975, as a nationally syndicated cartoon and then became a local feature of the San Francisco Chronicle. It was the only local comic strip in the country, according to the paper.

Other projects throughout Frank’s career were “The Elderberries,” a nationally syndicated comic strip about life in a retirement home, written by Joe Troise. Frank and Troise collaborated on several comic strips, including “Chateau Defeat” (published in the Wine Spectator), “Miles to Go,” and the eponymous “Frank and Troise” for Car & Driver magazine.

A native of Pittsburg, Pa., Frank died in Bolinas, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He had lived in neighboring Sausalito for a great part of his life.

According to his profile on the “Farley” official website, Frank was a member of the board of the Yosemite Association and an honorary California State Park Ranger. He also volunteered at the Sausalito Historical Society and was acting Exhibitions Coordinator for the Bolinas Museum's History Collection.

“Phil Frank was one of those rare artists whose work really defined and articulated the spirit of San Francisco,” Phil Bronstein, editor of The Chronicle, said. “Like his main character, Farley, Phil was a consummate and devoted journalist and proved that great reporting on this unique place can take many forms.

“We'll sorely miss Phil, the characters he made us feel so connected to and the way in which he saw the world.”

Phil Frank is survived by his wife Susan and two children, Stacy and Phil.