- Photo illustration by DigitalJournal.com image:39113:5::0

Harmon, ever the entrepreneur licensed the character to others allowing local television stations to hire their very own Bozo the Clown.

"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.

The first Bozo the Clown, Pinto Colvig was also the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy. The character was created by Alan W. Livingston in 1946. But it was Harmon who brought the Bozo that we grew up with into being.

Harmon's wife Susan said that her husband was the perfect Bozo.

"He was the most optimistic man I ever met. He always saw a bright side; he always had something good to say about everybody. He was the love of my life," she said Thursday.

Toledo, Ohio born Harmon leaves behindhis wife Susan and is survived by his son, Jeff Harmon, and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet and Leslie Breth.