Daniel Price remembered

Former Daily Campus cartoonist and SMU alumnus Daniel Price wasmurdered shortly after midnight on Dec. 19, 2003. According topublished reports in the San Francisco Chronicle and New OrleansTimes-Picayune, he was shot outside his home when he attempted tosave his wife from an assailant as the two were returning from aChristmas party.

To those of us at The Daily Campus, Daniel Price wasbrilliant. My first official act as Commentary Editor in the Fallof 1997 was to make sure Daniel kept drawing his cartoons. I knewwe wouldn’t have a serious editorial page unless he was partof it, and it was his contribution that helped us be named”Best Editorial Page” by the Texas IntercollegiatePress Association in 1998. Along with the police reports,Daniel’s cartoons were the most “read” part ofthe student newspaper.

Daniel’s drawings were as good as most editorial cartoonsin any major newspaper in the United States. And no, that’snot an overstatement. One brief look at even a smidgen of his workand you get a sense of just how talented he was. I cringed at whatwould happen if Daniel didn’t draw for us, or even if he waslate getting in his drawings for the next day’s page. He wasso essential, I was afraid to chastise him for his too-often habitof waiting until just past deadline to bring his cartoon for thenext day’s paper for fear he might take it the wrong way andnot come back with the next day’s work. But of course his artwas his passion and to my knowledge we never sent a paper off to bepublished without him.

Daniel was extremely well read, and his cartoons covered thegamut of campus, local, and world events. It’s one thing tobe a talented artist, but Daniel could take his knowledge andpackage it with a true message. And no one was off limits. Throughhis works he adroitly commented on international events as well ascampus politics. In his first effort to draw a campus politicalfigure he took aim at me, using his knowledge of literature to shedlight on my efforts to prevent students with “Level II”(now “Major”) judicial violations from running forStudent Senate offices during the Senate general elections of 1998(his work was entitled “The Scarlet Level II”). He evencriticized Dean Carole Brandt’s efforts to”reform” the Center for Communication Arts, effortsthat those of us at The Daily Campus strongly opposed. Andhis cartoons often chronicled the life of a fictional student named”Dougie” whose overweight and unkempt nature clashedwith the typical SMU culture and all it entails. While it may behard to explain, Daniel’s cartoons always hit the bulls-eyeand were timed perfectly with events published in the DC.

Yet there was also a side of Daniel we rarely saw, and one thatI can’t write about. Daniel was very businesslike aroundthose of us at the paper (perhaps an odd statement for those whoknew Daniel). Many of us saw Daniel only when he would come in tothe Student Media Company suite in Hughes-Trigg, sit in front ofthe drafting table, sketch out his cartoon, edit it on thecomputer, and be on his way. For the other 23 and a half hours aday many of us at the paper never spent time with him and got tothe see the other sides to Daniel’s life. I only saw one partof his talents, and I have to leave it to others to discuss thoseother facets and memories.

It saddened me greatly to hear about Daniel’s death.Friends of mine have died, and while it’s always sad, it ismuch more so when it occurs needlessly like in Daniel’s case.I feel especially for Sarah, his wife of eight months and long-timelove. Daniel gave the ultimate sacrifice that a husband can for awife – or that anyone can make for another person – by dying toprotect her. For this she should know that he will be in Heaven andthat those of us who knew and worked with Daniel will be there tosupport her should she call upon us.

Today in my apartment I still have the framed original of theeditorial cartoon Daniel drew of me. I was hoping thatwouldn’t be my last caricature by him. I expected the nextone to be when I got my big shot and entered real – not campus -politics and Daniel was drawing yet another intelligent critique. Idon’t know after Daniel left SMU if he wanted to try his handdrawing for a major newspaper, but he sure had the talent, andit’s a real shame that he will never have that chance.

On behalf of my colleagues at The Daily Campus,we’ll miss you, Daniel. May you rest in the peace of God.

Ryan Nelson (‘99) was Daniel Price’s CommentaryEditor and SMU’s 1998 Homecoming King.