Robert Grossman, R.I.P.

March 30, 2018

Robert Grossman, the prolific and talented illustrator and caricaturist, died on March 18, 2018, at the age of 78. He did several covers and other pieces for the National Lampoon over the years, most famously the fold-out cover depicting Richard Nixon as Pinocchio for the August 1972 (The Miracle of Democracy) issue.

I actually met Grossman once. He sat next to me at the National Lampoon Event at the New York Public Library in 2010, the one publicizing the publication of Rick Meyerowitz’s book Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead. We talked a bit, and he said that he knew of my Lampoon website. He even remembered (when I brought it up) the time I hired him once when I was a magazine art director back in the ’80s to do an illustration of the Statue of Liberty with a punk hairdo.

At one point, he asked if I had any paper. I tore a page out of the notebook I had in my pocket and gave it to him. A minute later he handed it back. He had drawn a caricature of me! It’s a little bit rough because he didn’t have a good surface to support the paper, just the palm of his hand. Even so, it looks just like me.

Rest in peace, Bob.

Comments

Which issue has "girls all over campus are swinging over to guys who know calculus."

—Doug Brandt

May 15, 2018 3:14 pm

That was in The School of Hard Sell, by George W. S. Trow and Michael O’Donoghue, from the October 1971 (Back-to-School) issue.

—Mark

May 15, 2018 4:13 pm

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