Fischetti, John R.

John R. Fischetti (b.1916-d.1981) was editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Sun-Times (1978-80) and the Chicago Daily News (1967-78) and staff cartoonist for The New York Herald Tribune (1962-67). He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1969.

Political cartoonist. Born in Brooklyn in 1916 and a graduate of the Pratt Technical Institute, Fischetti was an animator for Disney before moving to Chicago where he worked for the Coronet/Esquire syndicate, later purchased by Chicago Sun owner Marshall Field. Fischetti began drawing political cartoons for the Sun; however, when World War II intervened, he spent the latter part of it cartooning for Stars and stripes. After the war he moved to New York and joined the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and then the New York Herald Tribune. When it folded in 1966, Fischetti moved back to Chicago and the Chicago Daily News, where he was given complete autonomy to choose his styles and topics. After the Daily News ceased publication in 1978, Fischetti ended his career at the Chicago Sun-Times. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968, he died Nov. 18, 1980.

John Fischetti (1916-1980) was an American Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on September 27, 1916, John R. Fischetti was the son of an Italian barber. In his teens during the Great Depression, Fischetti traveled the country doing odd jobs. For a period of time, Fischetti worked in a hotel where one of his influences, cartoonist Rollin Kirby lived.

After spending three years studying at the Pratt Institute (1937-1940), Fischetti moved to California and worked for Disney Studios for nine months until he began to suffer from eye strain. He then pursued freelance work and ended up in Chicago as a cartoonist at the Chicago Sun in 1941. His freelance work appeared in publications including Esquire, the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s .

Fischetti then served from 1942 to 1945 as a radio operator and Army sergeant in Europe during World War II. He worked for Stars and Stripes from 1945 to 1946 with Dick Wingert among other World War II cartoonists. Fischetti then held the position of cartoonist for the New York Herald Tribune for two years, leaving for the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate where he stayed until 1962 when he went back to the New York Herald Tribune . During this time, Fischetti sought to combine the humor cartoon with the editorial cartoon and felt the Herald Tribune was a good fit for his work. His work was syndicated through the Publisher’s Newspaper Syndicate.

In 1967, Fischetti left New York for the Chicago Daily News after the Herald Tribune folded where he was chief political cartoonist until 1978 when that paper went out of business. His final position was cartoonist for the Chicago Sun-Times which he held until his death in 1980.

Fischetti’s cartoons were recognized with many awards. A Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning was awarded to Fischetti in 1969 not for a particular cartoon but for the body of his 1968 work. He also received two Sigma Delta Chi awards (1956, 1958) and an American Civil Liberties award. Fischetti was also an active member of the National Cartoonists Society and received the Silver T-Square award in 1973 and the NCS's best editorial cartoon award four straight years from 1962 to 1965. A book of his cartoons, Zinga Zinga Za was published in 1973.

John R. Fischetti died on November 18, 1980. Following his death, the Fischetti Endowment was started at Columbia College in Chicago. The endowment provides scholarships to journalism students and monetary awards to editorial cartoonists through the annual Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition.