Paul Conrad’s Retirement

I heard that Conrad was retiring and tears welled up in my eyes; a quiet, muffled curse slipped out between my lips, and an overwhelming sense of loss steamrolled over me. Other times when I had felt like this were when Hank Aaron retired, Muhammad Ali quit boxing, and Sandy Kofax left baseball.

For like no other political cartoonist ever, Paul Conrad hit more home runs, threw more knockout blows and pitched more strikes at the hypocritical, the sententious and the unjust. He can say more with a few brush strokes than some reporters can with 5,000 words.

HARRY POLGAR

Downey

Editor’s note: Although Paul Conrad will be formally retiring from The Times at the end of March, he will continue to draw syndicated cartoons, at a reduced frequency, and The Times will be running them twice a week, along with the works of other cartoonists.