Don Orehek

Don Orehek was a prolific freelance cartoonist whose gag cartoons appeared in a vast range of newspapers, magazines, and books for over five decades. Born on August 9, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at the School of Industrial Art before serving four years in the Navy, then honed his craft at the School of Visual Arts. His work was a staple of both mainstream and niche publications, from *The Saturday Evening Post*, *Cosmopolitan*, and *Good Housekeeping* to humor magazines like *Cracked*, *Playboy*, and *Look*. For more obscure outlets, he adopted pseudonyms such as Sam de Sade, Di Benvenuto, and Kobasa. Orehek was a regular contributor to *Cracked* and its spinoffs, as well as *The American Legion*, *Sex to Sexty*, and *Zany*. He lived for many years in Port Washington, New York, and later in Renton, Washington. Orehek passed away on December 6, 2022, leaving behind a body of work that captured the gentle, observational humor of mid-century American life.