John T. McCutcheon Jr. Inflation Collection

John T. McCutcheon Jr. was born in 1917 in Chicago and lived in Lake Forest, Illinois for most of his life. He was the son of Evelyn (daughter of famed architect Howard Van Doren Shaw) and John, eminent Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist.

McCutcheon Jr. earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University. While there, he was the managing editor of the Harvard Crimson newspaper. Upon graduation in 1939, McCutcheon Jr. spent a year at the City News Bureau in Chicago before becoming a reporter at the Chicago Tribune.

McCutcheon Jr. enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and served in the Pacific theater during World War II. During his Navy training, McCutcheon Jr. met his wife, Susan Dart. The two were married in 1943. They had three children, Anne, Mary and John III. Susan died in 2007.

After the war, McCutcheon Jr. returned to writing for the Chicago Tribune. He wrote a popular humor column during the 1950s and in 1957 become an editorial writer for the paper. In 1971, McCutcheon Jr. became chief of the editorial page. McCutcheon Jr. was with the Tribune for 49 years and spent 25 years on their editorial board. In 1982, McCutcheon Jr. stepped down as an editor and worked for seven years as an archivist for the paper and at the Cantigny estate.

McCutcheon Jr. died in North Carolina in 2008.