Jim Unger (21 January 1937 – 26 May 2012) was a British-born Canadian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary an ...

, best known for his syndicated comic strip ''

Herman Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minne ...

'' which ran for 18 years in 600 newspapers in 25 countries.

Early life

Unger was born in London, England, to Lillian Maud and James Unger. Unger served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

, was enrolled as a London bobby, and worked as an insurance clerk and a repo man before emigrating to Canada in 1968 at the suggestion of one of his sisters. In

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...

he began his career as a

at the ''Mississauga Times'' newspaper. In 1974, as ''Herman'' became popular, Unger moved from Mississauga to

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, bringing his parents and brother from Britain.

Retirement and return

Unger moved to the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...

in 1984 and retired as a cartoonist in 1992. Unger's friends encouraged him to give up retirement. He said he would not have suggested it himself, but he liked the idea. On 2 June 1997, ''Herman'' made a comeback under the

United Media United Media was a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its ...

umbrella. "It gives me the opportunity to bring them up to date and to introduce Herman to a new generation," he said in , edition of the ''

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...

''. He did not expect to return to full-time cartooning but planned to add new material. Unger signed a long-term contract to bring ten years of classic ''Herman'' back to newspapers.''Detroit News'', 31 May 1997. He returned to Canada in his last years, settling in Saanich, British Columbia.

Intraca

Unger was a co-founder of Intraca with David Waisglass, creator of ''Farcus''. Intraca uses the humour of popular cartoons and motivational quotes to inform and boost employees with "positive daily business messages" on their computers. ''Herman'' characters are also found on workplace posters promoting safety and improved production.

Books

In 1990, ''Herman'' became the first newspaper cartoon syndicated in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. Shortly afterward, Unger produced a new book, ''Herman: Over the Wall''. He joked, "Six months later the (Berlin) Wall came down; I think that's what did it."

Awards

Unger received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award twice (1982, 1987).

Death

Unger died in his sleep at his residence in

Saanich, British Columbia Saanich ( ) is a district municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 117,735 at the 2021 census, making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and Van ...

after a period of ill health. He was predeceased by his brother Bob, who was a major influence for the ''Herman'' comic. Unger was survived by his two daughters, Karen Gooda and Jenny Hopkins, and four grandchildren as well as two sisters, Deborah and Shirley who were living in Canada, and brother Steve who was living in the UK.

References

External links

NCS Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, Jim 1937 births 2012 deaths Artists from Ontario British Army soldiers Canadian comic strip cartoonists Artists from London Naturalized citizens of Canada English emigrants to Canada Writers from London Canadian emigrants to the Bahamas English male writers