Dick Locher is a nationally syndicated artist whose cartoons have been reprinted in Life, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Harvard Law Review, National Review, The Congressional Record and in hundreds of newspapers throughout the world. His ability to capture the absurdities of life through political cartooning resulted in his winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. News of Locher's award came just five days short of his 10th anniversary with the Chicago Tribune, where his work has appeared on the Tribune's editorial and op-ed pages since April 23, 1973.
In March 1983, he took over drawing the Dick Tracy comic strip. (His first experience drawing Dick Tracy came as Chester Gould's assistant from 1957 to 1961.) Later, he assisted with suggestions for Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy movie, which was released in June 1990. After the release of the Dick Tracy movie, Locher found himself involved in extensive PR for the film and appeared on such nationwide TV programs as “20/20,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and “Good Morning America.” He appeared on local Chicago TV news programs and was interviewed by numerous magazines, newspapers, and radio personalities nationwide.
Besides producing his editorial cartoon and the art for the Dick Tracy strip on a daily basis, Locher has a number of books to his credit, including Dick Locher Draws Fire (1979), Send in the Clowns (1982), Vote For Me (1988), and Which One Is the None of the Above Button? (1992). In 1985 he collaborated with Michael Kilian for Flying Can Be Fun. In 1990 he worked with Max Collins on The Dick Tracy Casebook and in 1991 on Dick Tracy's Fiendish Foes.
In addition to the Pulitzer in 1983, Locher received top honors from Sigma Delta Chi, Society of Professional Journalists, the U.S. Industrial Council's Dragon Slayer Award, and the distinguished Health Journalism Award. In both 1983 and 1984, he won first place in the Overseas Press Club competition.
In 1985 Locher again won the Distinguished Health Journalism Award for the fifth consecutive year. He won that award again in 1992. In 1985, 1990, 1991, and 1992, he also won The Peter Lisagor Award for excellence in journalism awarded by the Headliner Club of the Sigma Delta Chi.
Locher was among a select group of cartoonists to lunch with President Ronald Reagan at the White House in May 1986. In November he also won the World-wide Population Institute's competition for Best Cartoonist of 1986. In 1987, Dick won the prestigious John Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Award. In 1990 the Free Press Association awarded Dick an honorable mention for outstanding journalism in support of liberty in their Mencken awards.
Prior to joining the Chicago Tribune, he was president of his sales-promotion agency and has been a painter, art director, sculptor, and inventor. Locher studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the Art Center of Los Angeles. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and aircraft designer. Locher and his wife Mary live in the suburban Chicago area. Their son, Steve, and their daughter, Jana, and their families also live there.