Robert Raymond Lorenz

Robert Raymond Lorenz founded Lazy R. L. Ranch greeting card company in 1947 while a student at Colorado A&M. He drew almost every card image for 19 years, somewhere over 1000 artworks.
In 1947, Lorenz printed 5,000 cards. In 1954 he sold 450,000.
It's very difficult to find high res images now, these are the better ones I have collected. I own the full color ones, the others are mostly from advertising in news media.
Bob Lorenz met Ed Trumble in 1949, after Ed graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Both were WWII veterans and loved the cowboy ways.
Bob completed his degree at Colorado A&M in 1953, majoring in Range Management and Animal Husbandry. He had married in 1953 during WWII, had sons Tom and Richard in 1944 and 1951. Daughters Vicki and Louise came in 1960 and 1964.
Bob was a cowboy, but also kept his commission and served for 12 years. Wherever in the world hevl was he kept producing greeting card artwork.
Trumble was the business side of their partnership, Lorenz the artist. They dissolved the partnership in 1965 over a disagreement about bringing in outside artists.
Lorenz bought his physical ranch at Cheyenne, retained the greeting card company name, and moved on. The next year he died of cancer age 45. We will never know what might have been.
Trumble took his share of the company to Boulder, renamed it Leanin Tree, and hired those outside artists. He did okay by himself.
Trumble has also passed, lived to 92. His company is now employee owned, they represent over 500 outside artists.
 Leanin Tree and Ed Trumble became important to the career of Jack Roberts a local artist.

          

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