No: 5
Date: 11/1/1972
Name: Omaha City Councilman John Ritums
Artist Jim Horan admitted that Omaha City Councilman John Ritums may have been his favorite Face at the time: "He was a caricaturist's dream. Flamboyant personality, interesting life and those wonderfully distinguishable facial features - a fun face to do." A native of Latvia, Ritums built a successful career in real estate and construction. He was a city councilman during his unveiling and served on the Omaha City Council from 1969 to 1973. But he may have been best known for his fast driving of automobiles, as the artist shows in the caricature. On his way to lunch at the Press Club one day, Ritums was clocked over the speed limit. The police officers followed him to the Press Club to issue the ticket. "They didn't buy Ritums' story that he was just trying to clean out the engine so his car would run better," Horan said. The odd-looking buildings were a tongue-in-cheek look at the Latvian Village apartments Ritums built. Ritums later moved to Chicago.