Sam Gross

Sam Gross
Gross in 2014
Born(1933-08-07)August 7, 1933
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedMay 6, 2023(2023-05-06) (aged 89)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Known forCartoonist
Notable workCartoon contributor for print publications
AwardsInkpot Award (1980)

Sam Gross (August 7, 1933 – May 6, 2023) was an American cartoonist, specializing in single-panel cartoons. He contributed to an array of publications, and was a regular contributor to The New Yorker.

Biography

Born in The Bronx, New York City, Gross was the son of Max and Sophie, who were Jewish immigrants to America. His mother was born in Iași, Romania and his father was born in Lithuania. His parents came to the United States as children around 1905. Gross said his mother's side of the family is artistic. His father was a CPA.

Gross attended DeWitt Clinton High School, which at the time was an all-boys school. After he graduated, Gross went to the City College of New York. He started as a business major, then he wanted to be an accounting major, and finally an advertising major; Gross ended up taking a lot of art and history courses. His first published cartoon appeared in Saturday Review in 1953.

Gross was drafted into the American military in 1954, and served for two years in Germany. After his return to the United States, he married Isabelle Jaffe in 1959, and the couple moved to Darmstadt, in Germany, where he began to sell cartoons to European publications.

Returning to New York City after about a year, he began selling cartoons to "stag mags" such as Dude, Gent, and Rascal, and was earning his living full-time from cartooning by the early 1960s. His cartoons have appeared in numerous magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harvard Business Review and The New Yorker.

Gross was cartoon editor for National Lampoon and Parents Magazine. Gross also became involved in electronic publishing ventures with cartoons playing an important role.

He created the comic strip Cigarman, which was published from 1997–1998.

Gross died on May 6, 2023, at the age of 89. He and his wife Isabelle had a daughter, Michelle Gross.

Work habits

Every Wednesday Gross sat down to draw and, what he called, "trip". He claimed that he did not draw for magazines or newspapers, he just drew. Gross averaged 16–17 drawings a week, and numbered and dated every one. Once finished, he photocopied the drawings on forty-four-pound stock paper, then punched three holes and put them into loose-leaf books; Gross was afraid of losing his original copy and idea. In 2012, Gross had a total of about 27,592 cartoons.

Collections

Published collections of cartoons by Sam Gross include:

References

  1. ↑ Inkpot Award
  2. 1 2 Degg, D. D. (May 8, 2023). "Sam Gross – RIP". www.dailycartoonist.com. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sam Gross: Sex, Race, and Frogs | The Comics Journal". The Comics Journal. 6 March 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Slotnik, Daniel E. (2023-05-10). "Sam Gross, 89, Dies; Prolific Purveyor of Cartoons, Tasteful and Otherwise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  5. ↑ Allen, Emma (2023-05-08). "Sam Gross Was Funny to the End". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  6. ↑ "Comic creator: Sam Gross". Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  7. ↑ Gross, Sam (1978). I Am Blind and My Dog Is Dead. Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380401628.
  8. ↑ Gross, Sam (1982). An Elephant Is Soft and Mushy. Avon Books. ISBN 978-0380576791.
  9. ↑ Gross, Sam (1982). More Gross. Congdon & Weed. ISBN 978-0312925406.
  10. ↑ Gross, Sam (1984). Totally Gross. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0671507237.
  11. ↑ Gross, Sam (1986). Love Me, Love My Teddy Bear. Putnam Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0399512308.
  12. ↑ Gross, Sam (1987). No More Mr. Nice Guy. Perigee Books. ISBN 978-0399513961.
  13. ↑ Gross, Sam (1992). Your Mother Is a Remarkable Woman. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0147788610.
  14. ↑ Gross, Sam (1995). Catss By Gross. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0345392770.
  15. ↑ Gross, Sam (2008). We Have Ways of Making You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons (1st; Hardcover ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1416556404.