Jay Norwood Darling was born in Michigan on 21st October, 1876. After graduating from Beloit College he joined the staff of the local newspaper in Sioux City. Originally a reporter, his first cartoon was of a trial lawyer who refused to be photographed. Eventually he was given the job of drawing the daily cartoon.

In 1906 Darling moved to the Des Moines Register. Over the next forty years Darling produced over 17,000 cartoons for the newspaper. After 1917 his cartoons also appeared in the New York Tribune and were syndicated throughout the United States.

After the First World War Darling was a strong advocate of the League of Nations and the National Wildlife Federation. Jay Norwood Darling, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 and 1943, died on 12th February, 1962.