Condolences and remembrances poured in for cartoonist Ed Hall after news broke of his untimely death on May 19. His wife Emmy posted: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I share that Ed passed away on Sunday. He bravely battled cancer over the last 8 years, never letting it slow his creativity.”
[Above: Emmy and Ed pose with Representative — and then-Presidential candidate — Dennis Kucinich and his wife Elizabeth at the AAEC’s 50th Anniversary bash in Washington, D.C. in 2007. That’s Ed’s book of collected cartoons “Code Red” that he gave to politician.]
The Florida native drew local editorial cartoons for The Baker County Press for over 30 years, was a regular contributor to Jacksonville’s alt-weekly Folio Weekly, and was syndicated internationally by Artizans. His work frequently appeared in The Washington Post, Newsweek Japan, Le Monde, on CNN and — in collaboration with Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and Cartooning for Peace — the Geneva-based Le Temps. Hall’s political cartoons won numerous state and regional press awards, including the Green Eye Shade from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Ed was also a prolific illustrator, printmaker and painter (you can see some of his range on his websites here, here and here), and he taught art and design as an adjunct professor at the University of North Florida and Flagler College.
Closer to home, Ed was deeply involved in the AAEC and served repeatedly on its Board of Directors over the years, including several stints as Vice President. In 2020, he was presented with the Association’s Ink Bottle Award for “distinguished efforts to promote the art of editorial cartooning… and as a ‘thanks for the thankless tasks’ in service to the AAEC.”
[Above, Ed joined in the mass expression of outrage after The New York Times fired all of its contributing editorial cartoonists in 2019… the same year they accepted the pulitzer prize for editorial cartooning.]
Hundreds of fellow cartoonists, artists and fans posted condolences on Hall’s facebook page and The Daily Cartoonist. Illustrator Steve Brodner wrote, “Ed was a beautiful man and a brilliant artist. Will be remembered with greatest warmth and admiration.” JD Crowe, another southern cartoonist, said, “Ed was one of the most relentless true artist talents among us. I loved – and hated – looking through his beautiful drawings in his sketchbook. Ed’s rough sketches belong in a museum. Amazing natural talent enhanced by his passion for life. His passion was contagious.” KAL Kallaugher posted, “What a great spirit. I am both saddened by the news and grateful to have known him.”
Critic Mike Peterson, who frequently referenced Hall’s work in his daily column on the industry, Comic Strip of the Day, wrote about his friend: “One of the first things I learned about cancer was that no two cases are the same. I was given six months without treatment and a coin flip with it, but here I am, eight years later. Ed wasn’t so lucky. But, like all its victims, we bonded. At an AAEC Convention, we were swapping stories about ridiculous things we’d encountered in the course of our treatment and laughing. Someone came up and asked what was so funny and we said, ‘Cancer.’ I guess maybe you had to be there. Ed was for me, and I was for him. I’m gonna miss the guy.”
It is a sentiment we here at the AAEC share.
