Jerry Fearing – RIP

Editorial and comic strip cartoonist Jerry Fearing has passed away.

Jerry’s son Mark spread the word to friends that his father has passed.

From a Lot-Art biography:

Minnesota cartoonist Jerry Fearing was beloved for his work at the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, as well as his children’s books, which playfully celebrate Minnesota life. Born in St. Paul in 1930, Fearing drew constantly while growing up. He later described the need to draw as a compulsion, a drive he could not prevent. He would spend hours poring over comic books, learning from the art he saw there. He began his career at the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press shortly after graduating high school. He began working for the advertising department delivering proofs, but soon moved up to illustrating ads for them, and from there, to being a full-on illustrator and cartoonist for the paper.

His Dispatch and Pioneer Press employment was interrupted by military service. Returning to the paper he soon was promoted from advertising assistant to the editorial side and illustrating by 1955.

From the University of Minnesota:

Mr. Fearing began working at the paper as an advertising assistant and eventually, in 1959, produced a series of drawings for the Sunday edition about animals at the Como Zoo, located in St. Paul. This was his “big break,” and he went on to publish a series about the Dakota War of 1862, known as the Sioux Uprising, back in 1962, as well as a series on the native fish species in Minnesota. He published a series on the history of Minnesota that was later turned into a book that was used as a text in many elementary school classrooms around the state. He also drew several different comic strips during this time.

By the late 1950s Jerry was doing a number of recurring features for The Dispatch and The Pioneer Press. Such as:

The It Happened in Minnesota series was also known as The Minnesota Sioux Uprising and was that series that was collected as a book and taught in Minnesota schoolrooms mentioned above. Read the series/book here.

Later Jerry would do a political comic strip about St. Paul’s then mayor: Adventures of Supermayor (1971-72?)

The last half of the 1970s saw Jerry team with Pioneer Press and Dispatch editor and columnist Bill Farmer to create Rooftop O’Toole (1976-80), a strip about a kid who delivers newspapers to the White House.

Jerry’s main claim to cartooning fame was his near 30 year stint as St. Paul’s editorial cartoonist.

In 1967 Mr. Fearing began drawing editorial cartoons for the paper. The topics, though generally political in nature, covered many different subjects relevant to the Twin Cities area at the time. Like most editorial cartoons they focused on public figures, sports teams, environmental issues, local government, national and local elections, businesses, transportation and international conflicts, just to name a few.

Mr. Fearing retired in 1994.

Jerry, naturally, was a regular presence in those annual Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year books:

Sincere condolences to Jerry’s family and friends.