Charles Brooks

Charles G. Brooks was born Nov. 22, 1920, in Andalusia, Ala. He was editorial cartoonist for the Birmingham News for 38 years, beginning in 1948 and retiring at the end of 1985. He died Sept. 29, 2011.

Brooks was born with a love of drawing. He considered himself lucky to have been born at a time when editorial cartooning was at its zenith; it allowed him to do the work he loved so much.

After one year at Birmingham-Southern College, Brooks went to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied editorial cartooning under two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Vaughn Shoemaker.

A D-Day veteran, Brooks served four years in the combat engineers during World War II. His unit, the 3053rd Engineer Combat Battalion, was awarded four battle stars: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe.

Brooks received 13 Freedom Foundation Awards, a national VFW Award, two Vigilant Patriot Awards, and in 1960 was winner of the National Sigma Delta Chi Award for editorial cartooning.

In 1974 he became the first recipient of the Grover C. Hall Award for Excellence in Alabama Journalism from Troy State University and was given a special Hector Award by Troy State University in 1979.

In 1983, University of Alabama in Birmingham's School of Community and Allied Health set up the Charles Brooks Award, which is presented annually during SCAH's Honors Convocation.

Brooks served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, president of Alabama Professional Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the journalistic society, and president of the Birmingham Press Club. In 2010 he was named one of the Outstanding Graduates of Andalusia High School.

Brooks founded the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year in 1973, and edited the volume for 40 years.

Brooks' cartoons are in the permanent collections of: The Ronald Reagan Library, Simi Valley, CA. and Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Mo., among others.

Some of his cartoons were on special display at the Birmingham Public Library for a week.

Of all the honors he received, Brooks was proudest of his recognition by Alabama Sen. Howell Heflin on the occasion of Brooks' retirement. Heflin had his praise for Brooks read into the official Senate record.

Brooks is survived by a loving family: Wife, Virginia; son, Charles G. Jr. (Lydia); daughter, Barbara Bankhead; grandsons David and John; granddaughters Lisa Hart (Jim) and Kathy Hynds; and great-grandson, Michael Dephour. He was preceded in death by his parents, Emmy and Gordie Brooks, and his sister, Linelle Shaffer.

Services will be Monday October 3 at 2pm at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home in Trussville, led by the Rev. Ed Sims of Irondale Methodist Church and the Rev. Jordan Gervin of Fair Haven Nursing Home, where Brooks taught Sunday School for 47 years. Pallbearers will be grandsons David and John Brooks, the Rev. Jim Foley, Jim Hart, David Matson and Nathan Matson.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to Irondale Methodist Church or the Methodist Childrens Home.