Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, 84; fought Disney over Winnie the Pooh royalties

She met Stephen Slesinger backstage at a New York show in 1947, and they married a year later. Silent-screen star Clara Bow was her maid of honor.

The couple lived in a New York penthouse and a bungalow at the Hotel Bel-Air.

Slesinger, who was 20 years older than his wife, established one of the first successful character-licensing firms, acquiring the rights to Tarzan and Charlie Chan.

He helped create the Red Ryder comics and films and served as an agent for writer Zane Grey.

"Shirley was a down-to-earth person who had extraordinary taste in fashion," said Joe Shea, a family friend who interviewed her for the American Reporter. "She also had a lot of energy and a fast mind."

At a cartoonists ball in Tampa, she met her second husband, Fred Lasswell, who drew the "Snuffy Smith" comic strip for nearly 60 years.

They were married from 1964 until his death at 84 in 2001.

She moved to Tampa and paid homage to the character that's "really been my whole life," Lasswell told Fortune magazine in 2003, by driving a Cadillac with a license plate that said "POOH 1."

In addition to her daughter, Lasswell is survived by a granddaughter.

valerie.nelson@latimes.com