Robert Goodhue Jones (October 27, 1926 – October 2, 2018) was an American artist and illustrator. Jones is best known for creating illustrations for the American gasoline company

Exxon Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...

's "Put a tiger in your tank" campaign. He has also had works published in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' and '' MAD''.

Biography

Jones was born October 27, 1926, in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

. While still in high school, Jones got his first professional cartooning work at

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

, where he did

inbetweening Inbetweening, also known as tweening, is a process in animation that involves creating intermediate frames, called inbetweens, between two keyframes. The intended result is to create the illusion of movement by smoothly transitioning one image int ...

as a summer job. He then served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1944 to 1946, when he was honorably discharged. Using benefits from the G. I. Bill, Jones studied at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

and then

ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

, from which he graduated ''cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1949. After moving to

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in the state of New Yo ...

, in the early 1950s, Jones began working as an illustrator primarily for the Charles Cooper Studios. His works appeared in the magazines ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly United States, American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. The publication ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...

''. By the 1960s, Jones had begun working as a freelance artist, primarily in the field of advertising. From 1964 to 1982, his work was used by the gasoline company Esso (now

) for their advertising campaign "put a tiger in your tank", which featured Jones's illustrations of a cartoon tiger. In 1976, he began working for '' MAD'' after editor

Nick Meglin Nick Meglin (July 30, 1935 – June 2, 2018) was an American writer, humorist, and artist. He was known for his work as a contributor, comics writer, illustrator and editor for the satirical magazine '' Mad''. He also scripted ''Superfan'', a 1 ...

chose him to illustrate a cover. Jones continued to serve at ''MAD'' for over twenty years, doing cover art, articles, and paperback books for the publication.

Personal life

After retiring from the art industry, Jones held a summer residence on

Block Island Block Island is an island of the Outer Lands coastal archipelago in New England, located approximately south of mainland Rhode Island and east of Long Island's Montauk Point. The island is coterminous with the town of New Shoreham, Rhode Isl ...

, where he pursued his pastimes of fishing and boating, in addition to painting. Jones was married to Ann Burton from to 1974. The couple had five children: Robert A., Timothy, Peter, Linda, and Martha. Timothy died in infancy, while Robert A. died in 1976 and Peter in 2016. Jones died from complications of

pulmonary fibrosis Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory ...

at age 91 in 2018. He is survived by his daughters and ex-wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Bob 1926 births 2018 deaths American humorists Artists from California Place of death missing People from Beverly Hills, California Artists from New York (state) Deaths from pulmonary fibrosis American magazine illustrators American advertising artists and illustrators Mad (magazine) cartoonists University of Southern California alumni