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Herman Gutierrez Sr., 1924-2010
posted March 8, 2010
The
Corpus Christi Caller Times reports that their long-time letters page freelance cartoonist Herman Gutierrez Sr. died on Friday at 85 years old. Gutierrez apparently provided cartoons to a letter chosen by that page's editor for more than 30 years. A veteran of World War II, Gutierrez was also an teacher at Del Mar College and developed the art program in the West Oso school district. Beyond the loss felt by his family, his friends and his community, it's worth noting that fewer and fewer cartoonists have such long-time relationships with newspapers providing art specifically to one section of a newspaper, an entire avenue for cartoon expression in journalism that's blinking out one by one.
The obituary in the
Caller Times, accompanied by a photo of the cartoonist, says that Gutierrez won an award for a pair of cartoons appearing in teacher union publications in the early 1980s. Although the letters archived by the paper include on praising the cartoonist's offerings, none of his work appears on-line as far as I can tell. Gutierrez was also a working caricaturist, and served as the cartoonist for an organization called the League of United Latin American Citizens. He is survived by his wife, four sons, two daughters, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.