Loren Doppenberg, illustrator and graphic artist, dies at 63

Loren Doppenberg, an award- winning illustrator and graphic artist whose work graced the pages of The Press Democrat for nearly three decades, died Thursday at a Santa Rosa hospital.

Doppenberg, 63, was an editor and artist at the paper for 20 years, beginning in 1988, before starting a freelance career.

He was proficient in a range of different mediums, including acrylic painting, watercolor, pen and ink, pencil sketches, airbrush and computer-based illustration and design programs.

His eye-catching graphics, caricatures and political cartoons were featured in various newspaper sections, and in scientific and medical illustrations.

“It was always a treat in pulling together the Sunday paper or choosing entertainment covers to see the range of Loren’s work, from distilling breaking news to captivating whimsy,” Press Democrat Executive Editor Catherine Barnett said. “And no matter the praise from his colleagues, Loren was unfailingly modest.”

Co-workers remembered Doppenberg as detail-oriented, quick-witted and a stickler for accuracy, but immensely patient.

“What I admired about Loren was his sense of humor and ability to translate difficult subjects in a witty fashion,” said former graphics editor Dennis Bolt. “He was as much at home making caricatures of Mick Jagger as he was illustrating birds or highway projects.”

“Loren was a kind man and a gentle soul, the essence of his Iowa roots. He could take an abstract idea for an illustration and, with great pride, bring it to life,” Press Democrat Senior Editor George Millener said. “He loved his work, and we were lucky to have him.”

Doppenberg also was a skilled guitarist, who played in rock and country bands from his teens until just a few years ago.

Although introverted and even shy at times, that vanished when he stepped on stage and ripped an electric guitar solo.

“He would strap on a guitar and kind of turn into Mr. Rock ’n’ Roll. He didn’t seem to have any stage fright,” said his wife, Jean Saylor Doppenberg of Santa Rosa.

His mother bought him his first guitar, and by his mid-teens, Doppenberg had taught himself to play, using instruction books. His early musical ventures in his home state of Iowa included power trio lineups of just bass, guitar and drums, along with other bands that played covers and some originals.

For much of the 1990s and through the late 2000s, Doppenberg was in The Remedies, a classic rock band that played numerous venues - nightclubs, weddings and wineries - and reached its zenith with a series of side-stage gigs at the Sonoma County Fair and the now-defunct Konocti Harbor Inn & Resort in Lake County.

Doppenberg was born and raised in the small city of Orange City, Iowa, into a family of Dutch heritage that included two brothers and a sister. His parents had a furniture store.

He attended Northwestern College in Orange City, where he worked for a weekly newspaper, followed by another nearby small paper where he could be a jack-of-all-trades - reporter, photographer, and indulging the talent for illustration that he demonstrated from a young age, by drawing and designing ads.

By 1978, he moved to Des Moines with his first wife, who took a job as an editor at the Des Moines Register, a major daily with more than 500,000 circulation at the time.

Within six months, Doppenberg also was working for the Register, as a marketing illustrator, before being hired in the newsroom. He was the paper’s editorial artist, illustrating the op-ed page as well as doing maps and charts. He worked for the Des Moines publication for a decade and eventually went from staff artist to managing a department with 10 people.

In 1985, he married Jean Saylor, a TV columnist at the paper. Within three years, they moved to Santa Rosa, where he took a job with The Press Democrat as graphics editor.

Doppenberg’s career spanned an era of major changes in the news industry, where graphics went from being drawn in pen and ink, colored pencils and water colors to designs made using sophisticated computer programs, all of which he mastered.

In 2010, he was struck with cancer and appeared to have a clean bill of health several years later, allowing him to continue a busy freelance career as an illustrator, doing everything from book and DVD covers to assignments for various health care organizations. He designed billboards for the former Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol and advertisements that showed the look of rooms in Sutter’s new Santa Rosa hospital.

In the past few months he grew weak and declined in health, possibly from a resurgence of cancer, according to his wife. He died of respiratory failure, she said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his mother, Elizabeth Doppenberg, and brother Ron Doppenberg, both of Sioux Center, Iowa. He also leaves behind a number of nieces and nephews.

No services will be held, although a celebration of life is planned at a later date.