Painter, illustrator, and cartoonist Frank Grundeen was born John Franklin Grundeen in New York City on February 12, 1911. He is best known for his work as a Donald Duck comic strip artist employed by the now defunct Disney comics syndicate. Little concrete information is found about his personal life and educational background, though it is known that he studied at the National Academy of Design. In the early 1930s he found employment as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, working on the feature films Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, and Dumbo. For his work in the studio he received an award as a charter member of the Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoons department in 1936.

Grundeen's success as an animator led to work as a comic book artist for Standard Comics and illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, The American, and Western Living, among other major publications. In the late 1960s Grundeen was again approached by Disney, now on behalf the comic department, to take over the popular Donald Duck newspaper comic strips from ailing artist Al Taliaferro, who had been drawing the strips since 1938. Grundeen inked the daily and Sunday full strips until his retirement in 1976. The Disney comic department folded in the mid 1980s. In addition to his work as a comic strip artist, he found regular work as a commerical illustrator whose subjects covered everything from music to fishing to travel advertisements. Among his works was a cover for The All Florida weekly magazine, which he likely secured through his regular visits to the southeastern state as an avid angler.

Frank Grundeen died in California on January 23, 1986.