Mendez, Toni.

Toni Mendez worked as an agent representing creative people in the fields of cartooning, illustration and writing from 1946 to 2003. As president of Toni Mendez, Inc., her roles included syndicate feature representative, literary agent, licensor and merchandiser. As such, she was responsible for the placement and management of all secondary rights of syndicated properties in various commercial fields such as comic books, soft and hard bound books, toys, novelties, clothing, home accessories, records, radio, television and hundreds of other secondary items, including endorsements and advertising. She also represented literary authors in submitting manuscripts to publishers, negotiating royalty agreements, and securing secondary rights for paperbacks, reprints, performances, and film and television productions. These operations brought her into contact with numerous cartoonists, writers, entertainers, newspaper and television executives, manufacturers, attorneys, publishers, and advertising agencies. Mendez's first licensed merchandise deal was for Frank Willard, creator of Moon Mullins. She went on to represent more than fifty other cartoonists, most significantly Milton Caniff, Ray Bailey, and B. Kliban. Mendez became responsible for all secondary rights of syndicated properties for Field Enterprises; the Newspaper Enterprise Association; and Publishers Syndicate. She was instrumental in the formation of the National Cartoonists Society in 1946, and became an honorary member in 1967. From 1955 until 2002, she served on the Board of Directors of the Newspaper Comics Council (NCC), later the Newspaper Features Council (NFC), a nonprofit organization to promote newspaper cartoon features and to asist various public service organizations.