Albert L. Schweitzer (November 28, 1921 – January 30, 2023) was an American artist. He was known for his work as a newspaper cartoonist for ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

''. He illustrated its

Weatherbird The Weatherbird is a cartoon character and a single-panel comic. It is printed on the front of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and has been in the paper continuously since 1901, making it the longest-running American newspaper cartoon and a masco ...

cartoon from 1981 to 1986.

Biography

Early life and education

Schweitzer grew up in the

Compton Heights Compton Heights is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is bordered by Interstate 44 to the north, Nebraska Avenue to the east, Shenandoah Avenue to the south, and Grand Boulevard to the west. Compton Hill Reservoir Park, home to the landmar ...

neighborhood in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He was named after his father, a former prosecuting attorney and eventual president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Schweitzer attended

Chaminade High School Chaminade High School is a Roman Catholic Marianist college preparatory high school for boys in Mineola, New York, United States. Chaminade’s main campus is also home to Saragossa Retreat Center, one of their three retreat houses. Athletics ...

, St. Louis University, and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. Schweitzer was in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in the 1940s. He served as a gunner on the South Dakota.

Career

After World War II, he worked for the ''

St. Louis Star-Times The ''St. Louis Star-Times'' was a newspaper published in St. Louis. It was founded as ''The St. Louis Sunday Sayings'' in 1884. The newspaper ended in 1951 when it was purchased by the ''St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' ...

'' and then the ''Post-Dispatch'' from 1950 to 1986, when he retired as chief artist. Later he reported that he had intended to stay with the paper for only two years and then open his own studio. Schweitzer took over the illustration of the Weatherbird in 1981 following the retirement of

Amadee Wohlschlaeger Amadee Wohlschlaeger (December 3, 1911 – June 24, 2014) was a 20th-century American sports cartoonist in St. Louis. He was known professionally as simply "Amadee", which was how he signed his cartoons. He was a long-time sports cartoonist for t ...

. Schweitzer frequently used a cigar and a bowtie on the Weatherbird. He was the first artist to consistently draw the character in color. Following Schweitzer's retirement from the newspaper in 1986,

Dan Martin Daniel Martin may refer to: People *Dan Martin (actor) (born 1951), American actor *Dan Martin (drama educator) (born 1953), American academic *Dan Martin (cyclist) (born 1986), Irish road bicycle racer *Dan Martin (footballer) (born 1986), British ...

became the illustrator of the Weatherbird. For eight years, Schweitzer created editorial cartoons for 44 Catholic newspapers in the United States and Canada. He received the Catholic Press Association Journalism award for Best Editorial Cartoon in 1961. He lost some newspapers due to his liberal stance on

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

and his refusal to change his cartoons to the liking of southern editors. Schweitzer was a member of the

Missouri Athletic Club The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. L ...

and served as its art director. He taught art classes at

Meramec Community College Meramec is a name for several places in the United States: * Meramec River in Missouri * Meramec Caverns on the Meramec River * Meramec State Park in Missouri See also * Merrimac (disambiguation) * Merrimack (disambiguation) Merrimack may refer to ...

Kirkwood, Missouri Kirkwood is an inner-ring western suburb of St. Louis located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named after James P. Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad th ...

Personal life, death, and legacy

Schweitzer was inducted into the St. Louis Media History Foundation's Hall of Fame in 2017. He donated his papers to the

St. Louis Mercantile Library The St. Louis Mercantile Library, founded in 1846 in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, was originally established as a membership library, and is the oldest extant library west of the Mississippi River. Since 1998 the library has been housed at the U ...

. Schweitzer lived in

Brentwood, Missouri Brentwood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,233 at the 2020 census. Geography Brentwood is located at (38.619102, -90.348715). According to the United States Census ...

, a suburb of St. Louis. He was married and had two sons, Albert and Peter. Helene Soule Schweitzer, his wife, predeceased him in 2008. Schweitzer died on Monday, January 30, 2023. He was buried at Resurrection Cemetery.

References

External links

Obituary
at ''The Daily Cartoonist'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweitzer, Albert 1921 births 2023 deaths Chaminade College Preparatory School (Missouri) alumni University of Missouri alumni Artists from St. Louis Saint Louis University alumni St. Louis Post-Dispatch people American editorial cartoonists People from St. Louis Men centenarians American centenarians