|
|||||
|
|
|||||
  
|
Paul Conrad Dies at 86
Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Paul Conrad, whose fiercely left-leaning work graced the editorial pages of the Times for nearly 30 years, died on Saturday, September 4, 2010, surrounded by family at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes. Paul was 86. Services were held September 11 at St. John Fisher Catholic Church, in Rancho Palos Verdes. Eulogies were offered by Philadelphia Inquirer cartoonist Tony Auth and former Times reporter Robert Scheer. A reception followed. The family asks for memorial donations instead of flowers, to the Paul Conrad Scholarship at the University of Iowa School of Journalism, c/o the University of Iowa Foundation, PO Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244, or contact Jeff Liebermann at jeff-liebermann@uiowa.edu or 800-648-6973. As the Times obituary noted, "With an unyielding liberal stance rendered in savage black and white, Conrad both thrilled and infuriated readers for more than 50 years." Times Editor Russ Stanton said, "When it comes to editorial cartooning, I am unabashedly biased: Paul Conrad was simply the best ever. Whether or not you agreed with his politics, readers waited every morning for his dose of political commentary, guaranteed to make them either angry, to think or to laugh. And his work inspired other cartoonists and writers to speak truth to power. The Los Angeles Times was fortunate to be part of his long and prolific career, and we have missed him since the day he retired."
One of Conrad's best-known cartoons showed President Richard Nixon tied down like Gulliver by the audio tapes he secretly recorded in the Oval Office. Conrad started drawing for the student newspaper at the University of Iowa, and got his professional start at the Denver Post. There he also met and married the paper's society writer, Kay King. At The Times it was said that only Kay and National Editor Ed Guthman could persuade Conrad to kill a cartoon once he had set his mind to draw it. He joined the Times in the early 1960s, hired by Otis Chandler and Editor Nick Williams as they strove to raise the talent level of the once-mediocre newspaper. In 2006 Chandler told PBS that Williams warned him, correctly, that Conrad' s liberal slant would generate complaints from Otis' conservative family members and friends. "But it was worth it, because he's a real genius," Otis said of Conrad. "He brought enormous credibility and prestige to The Times." Conrad left The Times in January of 1993, when the paper offered a buyout to the entire staff. He continued cartooning in syndication for a number of years. He is survived by his wife, Kay, his sons Jamie and David, daughters Carol and Libby, and a granddaughter. Click to see Times obituary. Click for tribute by Tim Rutten: "His targets were the self-satisfied powerful, those indifferent to or antagonistic to our common good... Among his proudest accomplishments was making Richard Nixon's enemies list." Jack Hawn: "As a Times sportswriter, the only extended conversation I ever had with Paul was during a cocktail hour prior to a Times awards banquet. I introduced my wife, who immediately tore into the Pulitzer Prize winner about his recent cartoon attacking Catholics, the Pope or something to do with Catholicism. "Listening patiently as Charlene, martini in hand, rambled on, Paul (a Catholic himself) finally got his turn to speak. 'You know,' he said, 'you've just given me at least two new ideas for my next cartoon.' "I looked forward to seeing Paul's daily masterpieces on the Times editorial pages but believe he stepped over the line more than a few times. I wondered if his editors ever rejected a submission. Only one, he told us. And no wonder. He said the cartoon depicted Ronald Reagan, then president, I believe, urinating on a large map of the United States. "Paul may have been a Republican for all I know. I doubt he ever let his personal life or beliefs interfere with his work. As a cartoonist, he was a genius." |
||||
|
The Old Farts Society © 2010 info@OFSLA.com |
|||||
