Jorge Meléndez Escobar
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Jorge Meléndez Escobar | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 15 May 1949 – 15 May 1957 | |
| Constituency | 7th Departamental Group, 1st District (Santiago) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 6, 1896 Santiago, Chile |
| Died | March 19, 1984 (aged 88) Santiago, Chile |
| Occupation | Politician and caricaturist |
Jorge Meléndez Escobar (6 March 1896 – 19 March 1984) was a Chilean politician, illustrator and caricaturist.[1]
He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies between 1949 and 1957.[1]
He was the son of José Luis Meléndez and Ercilia Escobar Campaña. He married Ana Acevedo Davenport Hinojosa on 30 December 1938 in Santiago; the couple had no children.[1]
Meléndez studied at the Liceo de Aplicación and trained at the Instituto Superior de Comercio.[1] He completed courses in political economy and advertising at the University of Chile, as well as private instruction in drawing and painting, and industrial drawing at the schools of the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (SOFOFA).[1]
From 1914 to 1916, he taught in the "Manuel Rodríguez" Night Schools for Workers and at the Liceo de Aplicación. He worked for the Caja Nacional de Ahorros (later the Banco del Estado de Chile), serving as head of the Press and Propaganda Department from 1915 to 1949. He was an early contributor to the newspaper La Nación, and a caricaturist for Zig-Zag and El Corre-Vuela.[1] He directed the humor magazine El Picarón and collaborated with El Imparcial, El Mercurio, among others. Exhibitions of his work were held in 1913 and 1921.[1]
He authored several books, including Educación de la Juventud. Protección de los animales (1919), awarded in a 1917 public contest and later adopted as an auxiliary school text; Ahorro y caridad (1932); and Siembra y cosecharás amor (1981).[1] His work La cartilla del ahorro received special recognition at the First Savings Conference in 1915.[1]
Political career
Meléndez was a member of the Independent Party. In 1949, he founded the Movimiento Independiente and the Acción Renovadora de Chile.[1]
He was elected deputy for the 7th Departamental Group of Santiago, 1st District, serving in the periods 1949–1953 and 1953–1957. During his first term, he served on the committees of National Defense and Public Education. In his second term, he sat on the committees of Foreign Affairs and Internal Police and Regulations.[1]