Ted Shearer was an African- American cartoonist and art director for advertising agencies. He was most known for the comic strip, Quincy, the first comic strip with an African- American as the main character. Born Thaddeus Shearer on November 1, 1919, in Pen May, Jamaica and later migrated to Harlem in New York City with his parents. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and earned a scholarship to the Art Students League where he took night classes from 1938 to 1940. Shearer sold his first cartoon at age 16 to the New York Amsterdam News. During this time, he met E. Simms Campbell, cartoonist known for the Cuties comic strip, who would provide mentorship to the young cartoonist.

During World War II, Shearer served in the U.S. Army's segregated 92nd Infantry Division, reaching the rank of sergeant. He earned the Bronze Star for his position as art director for the division's magazine, The Buffalo. His illustrations appeared in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. He contoributed comics about life in the military to the newspaper syndicate, Continental Features. After the war, he became a freelance cartoonist, contributing features for national publications such as, The Ladies' Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and newspapers including the New York Herald Tribune. He studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York from 1946 to 1947.

Shearer drew the comic strip, Around Harlem, about teens and young adults in that Manhattan neighborhood, and the family-centered comic strip, Next Door. These titles were one-panel features syndicated by Continental Features, but was discontinued sometime in 1950s. Shearer was hired as art director at the New York City advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO). He worked at BBDO for 15 years and won several industry awards.

During this time, Shearer also sold single panel gag cartoons to the comic strip Laff-a-Day. His work was brought to the attention of the publishers of Laff-a-Day comic feature, King Features Syndicate who helped launch the groundbreaking Quincy comic strip. Premiering in June 1970, Quincy was an African- American elementary-school child being raised by his grandmother in Harlem. He left BBDO after the launch of Quincy and continued the strip until his retirement in 1986.

In his personal life, Shearer married Phyllis Wildman, an attorney and, later, a deputy commissioner of social services for Westchester County, New York, in 1945. The couple had a son, John Shearer (who would also go on to become a photographer), and a daughter, Kathleen. With his son, John Shearer as writer, he illustrated the book series Billy Jo Jive. This character became the basis for animated segments on the PBS children's television program Sesame Street. In the later 1970s, through their company, Shearer Visuals, they produced several Billy Jo Jive animation features.

In retirement Shearer explored painting and exhibited his work in several shows. He passed away from cardiac arrest on December 26, 1992, in New York.