Alan E. Cober (May 18, 1935 – January 17, 1998), born in New York City was an American illustrator. His artwork appeared in The New York Times, Life, Time and numerous other publications. Cober was inducted into the Illustration Hall of Fame in 2011, thirteen years after his death in 1998. Cober was frequently cited as one of the most innovative illustrators America has ever produced. Early life and education Cober was born in New York City, grew up in the Bronx and attended public schools. In 1952 he attended a preparatory school in Riverdale, the Barnard School for Boys. His father, Sol Walter Cohen was a criminal lawyer for 48 years until his death in 1974. The young artist was close to his father and through him, gained firsthand knowledge of courtrooms, police work and the detention of criminals. This experience would later inform his own views and subsequent art on perceived social inequities. His mother, Molly, was president of the Sarah Starkman League for Retarded Children. During his teenage years, Cober would accompany her as she cared for many children in her care. Cober would initially attend the University of Vermont, but later graduated in 1966 from the School of Visual Arts in New York City where the young artist would learn the importance of drawing and seeing. Cober was drafted into the Army in April 1958, going through basic training at Fort Dix, he spent the remaining two years of service teaching officers and heading the graphics department at the Special Warfare School, at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Cober would spend those two years drawing and learning and that is where he felt he received his real education. Career Cober was one of a small group of American illustrators who initially brought aspects of modern art into commercial art. His magazine illustrations rejected the existing top-down approach of art direction and embraced a far more expressive and symbolic approach to the subject matter. He did not mimic a passage of text, as was the convention at the time in illustration, but instead embraced artistic interpretation. He was one of a few illustrators during the 1960s to make gritty graphic commentary flourish in the rigid world of American illustration. The credit for works such as Cober's being published goes to art directors who were to bring innovative illustrations to print, notably among them Cipe Pineles at Seventeen,