Robert Goodhue Jones (October 27, 1926 – October 2, 2018) was an American artist and illustrator. Jones is best known for creating illustrations for the American gasoline company

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

's "Put a tiger in your tank" campaign. He has also had works published in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' and '' MAD''.

Biography

Robert Goodhue Jones was born October 27, 1926 in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

. While still in high school, Jones got his first professional cartooning work at Warner Bros. Cartoons, where he did

inbetweening Inbetweening, also known as tweening, is a process in animation that involves creating intermediate Film frame, frames, called inbetweens, between two key frame, keyframes. The intended result is to create the illusion of movement by smoothly trans ...

as a summer job. He then served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1944 to 1946, when he was honorably discharged. Using benefits from the

G. I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, Jones studied at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and then

ArtCenter College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

, from which he graduated ''cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949. After moving to

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manha ...

in the early 1950s, Jones began working as an illustrator primarily for the Charles Cooper Studios. His works appeared in the magazines ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

''. By the 1960s, Jones had begun working as a freelance artist, primarily in the field of advertising. From 1964 to 1982, his work was used by the gasoline company Esso (now

) for their advertising campaign "put a tiger in your tank", which featured Jones's illustrations of a cartoon tiger. In 1976, he began working for '' MAD'' after editor

Nick Meglin Nick Meglin (July 30, 1935 – June 2, 2018) was an American writer, humorist, and artist. He was known for his work as a contributor, comics writer, illustrator and editor for the satirical magazine '' Mad''. He also scripted ''Superfan'', a 1 ...

chose him to illustrate a cover. Jones continued to serve at ''MAD'' for over twenty years, doing cover art, articles, and paperback books for the publication.

Personal life

After retiring from the art industry, Jones held a summer residence on

Block Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...

, where he pursued his pastimes of fishing and boating, in addition to painting. Jones was married to Ann Burton from circa 1949 to 1974. The couple had five children: Robert A., Timothy, Peter, Linda, and Martha. Timothy died in infancy, while Robert A. died in 1976 and Peter in 2016. Jones died from complications of

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failu ...

at age 91 in 2018. He is survived by his daughters and ex-wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Bob 1926 births 2018 deaths American cartoonists Artists from California Place of death missing People from Beverly Hills, California Artists from New York (state) Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis Mad (magazine) cartoonists University of Southern California alumni