Ron Tandberg won 11 Walkley Awards, including two Gold Walkleys. Credit:Simon Schluter 11 x Tandberg cartoons about his cancer for Insight story December 2017 Among his last works was a series of cartoons depicting his predicament as oesophageal cancer overwhelmed him – a small figure standing helplessly as a giant wave approaches; a little man in polka dot pyjamas holding a hospital IV drip pole turning up at the pearly gates, only to be told by St Peter that "you are not due here till next week". "I'm cancelling the appointment," says Tandberg. "Sometimes you feel so bad you don't feel like laughing, but then you find it again," he confided a few days before Christmas. "Remember when they sent journalists out of the office to discover what was out there in the bad world? I am a long way out there now."

I'm not going to roll over. Credit:Ron Tandberg Tandberg said that when he was employed in 1972 by Graham Perkin – then The Age's editor-in-chief – he was asked to draw a small cartoon, a "pocket cartoon", to accompany the main story of the day and to tie the front page together. He believed he was the first cartoonist in Australia to be commissioned for such a task, and he specialised in drawing his subjects with the fewest possible strokes of the pen. Tandberg previously had been employed as an art teacher at Williamstown High School. Early in his career he worked in the art department of Leader newspapers in Northcote, where he was eventually sacked for impersonating the general manager. He also spent a period working for an advertising firm in the city, and had created a cartoon series, Fred and Others, that was syndicated in Australia and overseas.

He described joining The Age as his great moment of self-discovery. "It was as if I'd come home after being a bit lost," he said. Tandberg, who also worked for the Herald Sun for a period in the 1990s before returning to The Age, rarely came into the office over the past 20 years. He was in the practice of discussing over the phone the main stories of the day with news editors and other journalists before creating his cartoon. During such discussions, it was almost possible to hear his considerable mind turning over the details and distilling the circumstances into just a few lines of his artist's pen. And, of course, a caption. He said he'd learned the value of a short caption from listening to the songs of great songwriters on the wireless in the 1950s. For journalists, getting such a phone call and knowing Tandberg was preparing a cartoon for their story was as good as getting a story on Page 1.

And always, Ron Tandberg, who had learnt to dislike bullies from personal experience at school, used as his main character a little person looking with astonishment or disdain at the behaviour of the powerful. "Not only was he a world-class cartoonist, he was a world-class human being," Age editor Alex Lavelle said on Monday. "You couldn't help but feel better about life after a conversation with Ron. "Even during these impossibly hard few months while he was battling cancer, he maintained his extraordinary sense of humour and was still drawing a few days ago. "Ron has been a great friend and inspiration to countless members of our staff across five decades. And of course he is adored by our readers. His cartoons expertly captured with simplicity and clarity the essence of life and politics in Melbourne and around the world."

?Tony Wright's piece on Ron Tandberg Ron Tandberg's last drawing. Queenscliff pier Credit:Ron Tandberg Tandberg's last picture was a serene drawing of the pier at Queenscliff, where he lived, featuring happy souls fishing and walking their dogs on the beach. He leaves his wife, Glen, five children and seven grandchildren. Loading A book of his work from 2017, A Year of Madness: The Tandberg Collection, is currently being published by Wilkinson Publishing.

Tandberg's newspaper art is featured in the Ink in the Blood exhibition at the City Gallery, Melbourne Town Hall, until February 17.