Leo Cullum

Leo Aloysius Cullum (January 11, 1942 – October 23, 2010) was an American cartoonist who was one of the most frequent contributors on the pages of The New Yorker with more than 800 of his gag cartoons published. He started his drawing career after having served as a pilot in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and flying planes commercially for Trans World Airlines and American Airlines.

Early life and career

Cullum was born on January 11, 1942, in Newark, New Jersey. He was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey and earned his undergraduate degree in 1963 from the College of the Holy Cross, where he majored in English. He joined the United States Marine Corps after graduating from college, earning a commission as a second Lieutenant. Upon completion of his flight training in Pensacola, Florida Cullum deployed to Vietnam, where he flew more than 200 missions, mostly ground attacks in support of the infantry in addition to attacks on the Viet Cong supply lines on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. Though the missions over Laos were not officially acknowledged, Cullum was baffled by the need for secrecy, saying "the North Vietnamese certainly knew it wasn't the Swiss bombing them".

The New Yorker

Over his career with The New Yorker the magazine published 819 of his cartoons, many of which involved animals. His first successful entry was published on January 3, 1977, and featured a man wearing a robe at an office desk in a room filled with chickens. A cartoon with the caption "This island isn't big enough for two cliches" showed a school of fish attempting to crawl onto the shore of a desert island populated by a man and a lone palm tree.

A resident of Malibu, California, Cullum died of cancer at the age of 68 on October 23, 2010, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

References

External links

The Cartoon Bank, The New Yorker

Vietnam Veterans of America's Arts of War on the Web appreciation

Category:1942 births Category:2010 deaths Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:College of the Holy Cross alumni Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Newark, New Jersey Category:People from North Bergen, New Jersey Category:The New Yorker people Category:United States Marine Corps officers Category:United States naval aviators Category:Deaths from cancer Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Artists from California Category:Artists from New Jersey