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December 5, 2005
Wright Retires to Tend Flock
According to a report last week on Editor and Publisher, editorial cartoonist Dick Wright has announced he will be retiring from the newspaper business at the end of the year to concentrate on his duties as pastor of a Warrenton, Va., church.
Wright, 61, told E&P's Dave Astor there were just a handful of members at the church when he became the founding pastor six years ago. Now there are 600-plus congregants, so there's a greater demand on his time.
"I have found my heart is with the pastoring at this point," he added. "I'm really excited about helping people. I enjoyed cartooning immensely, but I think I'll enjoy this more."
Wright is syndicated to about 200 newspapers via Copley News Service, where he moved from Tribune Media Services in January 2005.
"I think his artwork is beautiful," Copley Vice President and Editor Glenda Winders told E&P. "We're very sorry to lose him."
Winders added that, for the rest of this month, Wright's conservative-leaning cartoons will be syndicated along with Steve Breen's San Diego Union-Tribune cartoons. The goal is for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Breen, who also has about 200 clients via Copley, to take on many of Wright's clients after Dec. 31.
Wright worked for the Union-Tribune, too (starting in 1976) and later joined The Providence (R.I.) Journal, the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner, and The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. Currently, he's affiliated with the Gwinnett Daily Post of Lawrenceville, Ga.
While he'll no longer be a professional cartoonist, Wright said he may do some drawings for church publications.
On the Net:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001613358