Born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, Bob Gorrell attended the University of Virginia as an Echols Scholar and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1977. After two years as staff artist at the Ft. Myers News-Press in Florida, and three years in North Carolina at the Charlotte News, he arrived at the Richmond News Leader in Virginia during 1983. Gorrell moved to the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1992, and served there as editorial cartoonist until resigning in January 1998 to concentrate on syndicated editorial and comics page features. From November 2000 until August 2001, Gorrell served as editor at iPipe, Inc., where he managed the distribution of feature content to major Internet portals and where he developed the editorial cartoon site Edivu, which was named a Best of the Web winner by U.S. News & World Report. In October 2001, Gorrell was named Editorial Cartoonist for America Online News, giving him one of the nation’s largest daily audiences through that outlet’s 33 million subscribers. His work for AOL is viewable at AOL Keyord: Bob Gorrell or through AOL Keyword: Opinions.

        Gorrell’s work has appeared through syndication in hundreds of daily and weekly newspapers, including The Atlanta Journal, The Portland Oregonian, The Providence Journal, USA Today, The New York Post, The Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. His commentary has been featured in Time, Newsweek, National Review, and other prominent periodicals, and college papers receive his drawings through the U.S.I.C. Educational Foundation. Gorrell cartoons have been used on CBS television’s Face the Nation and on C-Span, and he himself has guested on CNN’s Crossfire as well as other television and radio broadcasts. His work has been included in numerous cartoon anthologies, and is available along with cartoons by Gary Brookins in their jointly-published Pen Pals. During 1995, Gorrell compiled a solo collection of his cartoons for national distribution titled Affairs of State.

        Gorrell and Brookins collaborated on the comic strip Cobwebs from 1985 to 1986, and they co-produced the op-ed cartoon feature Muddle America from 1996 to 1998. In September 1998, Gorrell launched the comic page panel Toby with Creators Syndicate, Inc..

        Winner of the 1997 National Press Foundation’s Berryman Award as Editorial Cartoonist of the Year, Gorrell has received numerous other accolades. Cartoons by Gorrell have been cited for excellence by the Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition, the Overseas Press Club of America, the Mencken Awards, and the Dragonslayer Editorial Cartoon Competition. Gorrell won first place for editorial cartooning in seven Virginia Press Association Awards competitions. Gorrell is a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, the National Cartoonists Society, and the Newspaper Features Council. His drawings have been solicited for numerous exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States, and they are frequently requested for purchase by private collectors. Samples of his work are on deposit with museums of cartoon art in Washington and Ohio State University.