Erickson, Lou B. (Louis Bernard), 1913-1990

Louis Bernard Erickson (1913-1990), or Lou Erickson, was an American editorial cartoonist and illustrator.

Louis Bernard Erickson was born on December 27, 1913 in Marcus, Washington. While in school, Erickson drew illustrations and cartoons for his teachers about the subjects he had to study. From 1934 to 1935 he took classes at Wentworth College in Spokane before joining the Civilian Conservation Corps to fight forest fires. During his time with the CCC he edited and illustrated a CCC newspaper called the Microphone .

Erickson enlisted in the Army Air Corps and achieved the rank of staff sergeant during his service in WWII. During the war he drew the Separate Rations comic strip for Army Times . Erickson worked in public relations in Dallas, Texas following the war.

On July 17, 1950, Erickson jointed the Atlanta Journal as an artist in the advertising department. In December 1952, he transferred to the art staff of the news department and became the editorial page cartoonist on October 16, 1961. He also wrote columns and the occasional editorial piece and illustrated various parts of the newspaper including feature stories and the travel section. He also created the Sunday Funtime page.

Erickson was a prolific cartoonist whose work appeared in a variety of forms and depicted subjects beyond politics. In addition to his regular assignments for the Atlanta Journal he also drew freelance cartoons. Erickson collaborated with the Atlanta Traffic and Safety Council and produced materials used to educate the public about safe driving. Erickson illustrated several books and published a book of editorial cartoons in 1968, This is Maddox Country . He also wrote a humor book, It Takes One to Know One about Democrats and Republicans which was published in 1976. Textbook publishers used Erickson’s cartoons to illustrate works on history, economics and political science.

Many awards were presented to Erickson. Erickson was named “Man of the Year” for 1960 by the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce and received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for a series of cartoons in 1964. The Georgia Educational Association presented him with the School Bell Award for the contributions his editorial cartoons made to education. The Freedom Foundation George Washington Award was given to him in 1967 and his cartoons won him an award at the International Salon of Cartoons at Expo 67 in Montreal.

Erickson retired from the Atlanta Journal on December 31, 1982. Following a stroke and several weeks in a coma, Lou Erickson died of a heart attack April 15, 1990 at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.