Steve Benson (cartoonist)

Stephen Benson
Benson in 2019
Born(1954-01-02)January 2, 1954
Sacramento, California, U.S.
DiedJuly 8, 2025(2025-07-08) (aged 71)
Gilbert, Arizona, U.S.
OccupationCartoonist
Years active1980–2023
Spouses
  • Mary Ann Christensen
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1977, divorced)​
  • Claire Ferguson
    ​
    (m. 2020)​
Children4
RelativesEzra Taft Benson (grandfather)
FamilyTaft family
AwardsPulitzer Prize (1993)

Stephen Reed Benson (January 2, 1954 – July 8, 2025) was an American editorial cartoonist. In a career spanning over 40 years, most of it spent at The Arizona Republic, Benson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1993.

Background

Stephen Reed Benson was born on January 2, 1954, in Sacramento, California, and grew up in Texas, Indiana, and Utah.[1] As the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson, he attended Brigham Young University, from which he graduated cum laude.[1] He was a Mormon missionary in Japan for two years.[1]

Benson was married to Mary Ann Christensen in 1977,[2] and to Claire Ferguson in 2020. His first marriage, which produced four children, ended in divorce.[1]

Benson died from complications arising from a stroke on July 8, 2025, at the age of 71, at a care facility in Gilbert, Arizona.[1][3]

Career

Benson became the cartoonist for The Arizona Republic in 1980.[4] He moved to the Tacoma Morning News Tribune in 1990,[5] but then returned to The Arizona Republic in 1991,[4] and remained until laid off in January 2019.[6][7] Until retiring in 2023, Benson was the staff political cartoonist for the Arizona Mirror and his work continued to be nationally distributed by Creators Syndicate.[1][8]

Reception

Benson was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, was a Pulitzer finalist in 1984, 1989, 1992, and 1994,[9][10] and received a variety of other awards.[4] He served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.[11] His cartoons have been collected in a number of books.[4]

In 1983, Benson drew a cartoon making light of the heavy rainfall which accompanied Queen Elizabeth II's state visit to the Western United States that year. The Queen enjoyed the cartoon, and Benson sent her a copy at the request of Buckingham Palace.[1]

Described The New York Times as "provocative", Benson's cartoons sometimes incurred harsh responses.[1] Barry Goldwater, comparing Benson to his grandfather, once told him "There are – and have been – good Bensons. You ain't".[1]

In the late 1980s, he was at first a supporter, then a prominent critic, of Evan Mecham, the first Mormon to be elected governor of Arizona. Benson's criticism stirred controversy among Arizona's Mormon population,[12][13] leading some LDS Church members to seek the intervention of Benson's grandfather in the matter.[14] In the midst of the scandal, Governor Mecham telephoned Benson and told him to stop drawing critical cartoons about him, or his eternal soul would be in jeopardy.[15] Benson was later relieved of his position on a stake high council.[16][17]

In 1993, Benson faced further controversy within the LDS Church, when he stated that his grandfather, then nearing his 94th birthday, was suffering from senility that was being concealed by church leadership.[18] Later that year, Benson publicly left the church.[14][19] He later became a critic of religious belief, appearing at Freedom From Religion Foundation's annual conventions and stating in its paper Freethought Today, "If, as the true believers claim, the word 'gospel' means good news, then the good news for me is that there is no gospel, other than what I can define for myself, by observation and conscience. As a freethinking human being, I have come not to favor or fear religion, but to face and fight it as an impediment to civilized advancement."[20][21]

In 1997, Benson used a famed image of a firefighter carrying a dead child from the wreckage of the Oklahoma City bombing as the basis for a cartoon criticizing what, in his words, was "the ultimate irony" of sentencing defendant Timothy McVeigh to death.[1][22] Benson was accused of insensitivity towards the original image, which he said "completely missed the intent" of his work.[22]

In 1999, Benson released a political cartoon titled "Texas Bonfire Traditions." In the cartoon, he compared the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse to the Waco siege of 1993 and the murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998. This prompted negative reactions and criticism from Texas A&M, and forced The Arizona Republic to remove the cartoon.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sandomir, Richard (July 16, 2025). "Steve Benson, Provocative Editorial Cartoonist, Dies at 71". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  2. ^ "About Steve Benson | Creators Syndicate". www.creators.com. Retrieved July 16, 2025.
  3. ^ Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist Steve Benson dies at 71
  4. ^ a b c d Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C. (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-57356-111-2.
  5. ^ "Cartoonist leaves Arizona for Tacoma". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. October 5, 1989. Retrieved November 11, 2022 – via Google News Archive Search.
  6. ^ Hsieh, Steven (January 23, 2019). "Pulitzer-Winning Cartoonist Among Laid Off at Arizona Republic". Phoenix New Times.
  7. ^ Boas, Phil; Burton, Greg; Tulumello, Kathy (January 24, 2019). "Did you see Steve Benson's cartoon today? These are words we (sadly) will no longer say". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  8. ^ Small, Jim (April 2, 2019). "Benson cartoons find a new home at the Arizona Mirror". Arizona Mirror. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  9. ^ Fischer, Heinz Dietrich (1999). Editorial Cartoon Awards, 1922-1997: From Rollin Kirby and Edmund Duffy to Herbert Block and Paul Conrad. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-598-30183-4.
  10. ^ "Editorial Cartooning". Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
  11. ^ "Steve Benson". The Arizona Republic. January 2, 2002. Retrieved December 9, 2010 – via azcentral.com.
  12. ^ Gruson, Lindsey (March 19, 1988). "A Family Gathering Shows Split Over Mecham Goes Deeper Than Politics". New York Times.
  13. ^ Pagan, Eduardo (March 1988). "Razing Arizona: The Clash in the Church over Evan Mecham" (PDF). Sunstone Magazine. pp. 15–21.
  14. ^ a b Flannery, Pat (February 22, 2008). "Former Ariz. governor Mecham dies". USA Today.
  15. ^ "Cartoonist Pat Bagley lambasts Gannett for short-sighted and cruel staff cut". AAEC News.
  16. ^ McEntee, Peg (May 24, 1989). "Pres. Benson Knows About Flap". Deseret News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012.
  17. ^ "Cartoonist Ousted From Mormon Post". Los Angeles Times. June 3, 1989. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012 – via pqarchiver.com.
  18. ^ "Mormon President's Health Raises Questions; Succession: Famed grandson says church hierarchy is presenting a misleading image of Ezra Taft Benson, who serves as the faith's prophet for life". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. July 31, 1993.
  19. ^ Skordas, Jennifer (October 11, 1993). "Grandson Of President Asks To Be Removed From LDS Church Rolls". Salt Lake Tribune – via NewsBank.
  20. ^ Benson, Steve (December 1999). "From Latter-Day Saint to Latter Day Ain't". Freethought Today. Freedom From Religion Foundation. Archived from the original on December 31, 2010.
  21. ^ "Outreach & Events". Freedom From Religion Foundation. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012.
  22. ^ a b "Oklahoma bombing cartoon causes protests; Artist defends anti-death penalty drawing". CNN. January 19, 1997. Archived from the original on February 21, 1999.

Further reading

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