James Jacob Lange (August 15, 1926 – April 16, 2009) was an American
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who worked for ''
The Oklahoman
''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th larges ...
'' for 58 years and produced over 19,000 cartoons.
Biography
Lange was born in
Winnebago, Minnesota
Winnebago is a city in Faribault County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,391 at the 2020 census.
History
Winnebago was originally called Winnebago City, and under the latter name was laid out in 1856. The city was named after th ...
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...
. He joined the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In Iowa he met Helen Johnstone, whom he later married.
After his military service, Lange attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He and Helen moved to
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, where he got a job as an editorial cartoonist, hired by newspaper mogul
Edward Gaylord
Edward Lewis Gaylord (May 28, 1919April 27, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman, media mogul and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Gaylord Entertainment Company that included ''The Oklahoman'' newspaper, Oklahoma Publishing Co ...
. He started work for ''The Oklahoman'' on October 1, 1950.Longtime cartoonist Jim Lange dies ''The Oklahoman'', April 18, 2009. His first cartoon featured Oklahoma Governor Roy Turner.
Lange co-founded the
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) is a professional association concerned with promoting the interests of staff, freelance and student editorial cartoonists in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With nearly 200 members, it ...
and served as its President during the 1980s. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 1993.
Lange's work was collected in a 1994 collection published by ''The Oklahoman''. He was known for his
everyman
The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them.
Origin
The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...
character, called "Mr. Voter" or "
John Q. Public
John Q. Public (and several similar names; see the Variations section below) is a generic name and placeholder name, especially in American English, to denote a hypothetical member of society, deemed a " common man", who is presumed to represent ...
", described in an ''Oklahoman'' editorial as "bespectacled, mustachioed, fedora-wearing". In 2006 the
Oklahoma State Senate
The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Oklahoman Cartoonist Jim Lang Dies ''KRMG Local News''
He and Helen had four children; he was survived by his wife and three children.