John Fischetti

John R. Fischetti (September 27, 1916 – November 18, 1980) was an editorial cartoonist for the New York Herald Tribune and the Chicago Daily News. He received a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1969 and numerous awards from the National Cartoonists Society.

Biography

Fischetti was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his Italian father was a barber. As a teenager during the Great Depression, he worked various jobs, including one at a hotel where Rollin Kirby, one of his influences, lived. At 19, Fischetti began studying commercial art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he continued his education for three years (1937–1940). John fought in World War Two, and he worked for the U.S. Army magazine Stars and Stripes.

Then he moved to California, where he worked for the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank. Fischetti's job with Disney lasted only nine months, due to the work's strain on his eyes.

While pursuing freelance work, Fischetti began his career as an editorial cartoonist at the Chicago Sun in 1941. Some of his freelance work appeared in such publications as Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's.