Alfred Harvey, Comic-Book Publisher

LARCHMONT, N.Y. - Alfred Harvey, who brought such cartoon characters as Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich the Poor Little Rich Boy to newsstands and TV and movie screens, has died. He was 80.

Mr. Harvey died Monday.

Mr. Harvey's company, Harvey World Famous Comics, produced comic books and cartoons featuring such characters as Wendy the Good Little Witch, Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, Baby Huey, Little Audrey and Little Dot. It also published "Sad Sack," a military comic strip.

The company's library of 248 movie cartoons from the 1950s and '60s included follow-the-bouncing-ball musical shorts.

Mr. Harvey was 26 when he started the company in 1940. Its first offering was a magazine called Pocket Comics.

Richie Rich and Casper helped make Harvey the top-selling comic-book house for a time, but the company had slipped to fourth place when Harvey retired in 1977.

In 1989 it was bought for $6 million by Jeffrey Montgomery and renamed HMH Communications.