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"His cartoons, sculptures and oil paintings... serve as historical documentation of the decade," THE NEW YORK TIMES quotes an exhibition curator. "Lurie is the Cartoon-Caesar," declares Denmark's MORGENAVISEN JYLLANDS - POSTEN. America's leading anchorman, Ted Koppel, writes, "I am in awe of Lurie's talent." Italy's LA STAMPA anoints Ranan Lurie "the king of American political cartoonists." LONDON TIMES Editor Charles Douglas-Home states in his forward to one of Lurie's books: "I remember feeling somewhat startled by his arrival, because THE TIMES had not been accustomed to the presence of a resident cartoonist and certainly not one who appeared to have such a precise and perfectionist idea of his role. My fears were unfounded as it turned out. Although he had not inhabited the culture of a British newspaper before, he quickly fit in with us. He attended our daily editorial conferences, made shrewd contributions from the back of the room, with a courtesy and insight borne of his wide international experience." Lurie holds the record as "The most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world. As of July 1998, his work was published in 103 countries in 1,105 newspapers with a total circulation of 104 million copies." (THE 1999 GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS.) One of the most honored cartoonists in the world, Lurie's work has been recognized by prizes from the MONTREAL SALON OF CARTOONISTS, the FRONT PAGE AWARD from the Newspaper Guild of New York (three times), the ART DESIGNER'S AWARD, the CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE from the Overseas Press Club, the German GOLDEN PLATE AWARD, two JOHN FISCHETTI AWARDS and the HEADLINER'S AWARD. He was voted by his peers in the NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY OF AMERICA as one of the three best editorial cartoonists in the United States for eight consecutive years. The U.S. Senate granted Lurie the unprecedented honor of a Senate exhibit of his political art, sponsored jointly by Republicans and Democrats -- the only political cartoonist to receive this tribute to date. Lurie developed a cartoon animation technique that enabled the production of a television daily news cartoon. It then appeared regularly on leading U.S. television networks, such as "NIGHTLINE" and ABC's EARLY MORNING NETWORK television (more than 200 stations) from 1991 to 1993, as well as on THE MacNEIL/LEHRER NEWSHOUR, nightly, for a year. He was "imported" to the U.S. from his native Israel (his family left Russia and Germany to settle in Jerusalem in 1815) in 1968 by LIFE, to become its first and only political cartoonist and cover artist. He served LIFE for five years, until the magazine folded at the very end of 1972. LIFE sponsored his American citizenship, which was granted in 1974. Lurie is one of the few people who have their name in the same volume of the GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS twice, representing two very different records: one of being the most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world, and the other of being a scion of the oldest known living family in the world today. Before coming to the U.S., he served as the staff political cartoonist for Israel's largest paper, YEDIOTH AHARONOTH, for 11 years (1956-1967), and won Israel's highest journalism award. At the age of 20 he published the first of his 10 cartoon books. He served as a police reporter, a military correspondent, an editorial page editor, a managing editor and finally, at the ripe old age of 22, he was appointed the editor in chief of an Israeli news magazine. Lurie studied fine art in Jerusalem. He served as a reserve combat major in Israel's armed forces. He was sent to train and jump with the U.S.101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky; with the paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion in Pau, southwest France; with the British 16th Independent Parachute Regiment in Aldershot, England; and with the Israeli special military skydivers unit. After the demise of LIFE at the end of 1972, he served for three years as the political cartoonist and contributing editor for NEWSWEEK International (1973-1976), and served as senior analyst and political cartoonist for U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT magazine (1984, 1985). In 1983, he was invited to become the senior political analyst and Cartoonist for one of Japan's leading newspapers, the ASAHI SHIMBUN (over 12.2 million circulation daily). Before leaving Japan, he was granted the honor of being appointed "Honorary Member of the ASAHI SHIMBUN for Life." Prior to his position in Japan, he was political cartoonist for THE TIMES of London (1981 - 1983). During 1980, he worked as both an interviewer and chief political cartoonist for West Germany's DIE WELT. Since 1994, Lurie has produced a weekly political cartoon page for TIME International magazine (LURIE'S WORLD), until he founded and became editor-in-chief of "CARTOON NEWS", the current events educational bi monthly, which made its debut in September 1996. In 1997 he was invited by Europe's oldest paper, the prestigious Swiss NEUE ZURCHER ZEITUNG, to launch its first political cartoon in 221 years. He drew for them constantly from his studios in New York City for three years (thanks to the Internet), until he was invited to join the prestigious FOREIGN AFFAIRS magazine in September 2000, where he is served until 2004 as the publication's regular political cartoonist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CARTOON NEWS MAGAZINE, THE CURRENT EVENTS EDUCATIONAL MAGAZINE, established in 1996. In Autumn 2000 he moved the entire magazine from print to the Internet, changing its name to CARTOONEWS.COM and e-mailing a page to his subscribers each day. Two years later, he continued to perfect the publication by animating the cartoons that were sent out, adding music and sound effects to the animation. Lurie taught at the University of Hawaii ("The Philosophy of the political cartoon") and lectured at many universities and colleges on current affairs. In 1990, Ranan Lurie was invited to become an Adjunct Fellow at the CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (CSIS), the Washington, D.C.-based leading think tank. In 1997 he became a Senior Adjunct Fellow, and in 2002 he was appointed a Senior Associate at the CSIS. He's a member of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION of EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS, the UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION, the FRIARS CLUB, the 101st Airborne Division Association, Honorary Life Member of the ASAHI SHIMBUN for Life, and a Life Member of the MENSA Society. Lurie has interviewed, on a one-to-one basis, 72 world leaders. Among them: Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan of the United States, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, President Idi Amin of Uganda, Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India, President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan, Prime Ministers Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, Yitzak Shamir, Yitzak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon of Israel, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Phillippines, President Carlos Salinas of Mexico, President Lech Walesa and Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki of Poland, President Glafkos Clerides of Cyprus, Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Kim Young Sam of South Korea, United Nations Secretaries General Kurt Waldheim, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan, Prime Ministers William McMahon and Gough Whitlam of Australia, and Prime Minister Junius Jayawardene of Sri Lanka. Among those who have taken the time to sit for Lurie to have their caricatures done are Presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush, Secretaries of State William Rogers and Henry Kissinger of the United States, British Foreign Minister Francis Pym, and Foreign Minister Dr. Fredrick F. Chien and President Chiang Ching-kuo of the Republic of China on Taiwan. Lurie produced a weekly full page of political cartoons for NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL titled LURIE'S OPINION (1973-1976), which was simultaneously distributed by the NEW YORK TIMES syndicate internationally. During that period, THE NEW YORK TIMES publishing house published two of the 10 books authored by Lurie in four languages. The others were published in Britain, West Germany, Israel and Japan. Ranan Lurie has been married for 50 years to Tamar, Senior Vice President of Coldwell Banker Real Estate and the leading broker in Greenwich, Conn., as well as the entire northeast U.S. They reside both in Greenwich and Manhattan, where they live on the 60th floor of a high-rise. They have four children: Rod (West Point), the movie director and screen writer ("Deterrence", "The Contender", "The Last Castle") and Barak (Stanford University), lawyer and business executive, both of Los Angeles; Daphne (Williams College) Dr., psychologist, of San Diego; and Danielle (Stanford University) a movie director and screen writer; Five grandchildren: Hunter (18), Paige (17), Samuel (9), Maxwell (5) and Sasha, (2). On Feb. 19, 1995, the UNITED NATIONS Society of Artists and Writers announced its plans for creating "The International Award for Political Cartooning", named after Ranan R. Lurie, to be presented annually to the best international political cartoons. Later the UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION, together with the moral support of the United Nations secretary general's offices, brought said idea to fruition for the purpose of encouraging political cartoonists worldwide to project the spirit of the United Nations ideals. Hence, the creation of
"THE UNITED NATIONS as officially announced on August 1999, at a special press conference at the U.N. in New York, both by the United Nations spokesman and the president of UNCA. On March 14, 2002, the president of the Republic of Cyprus, the Honorable Glafcos Clerides, nominated Mr. Lurie for the Nobel Peace Prize. The presidential nomination was based on the following: "Mr. Lurie has contributed greatly in creating a great spirit of understanding among the people of many races, and has helped in the effort to defuse political and other hot conflicts worldwide."
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