Jok Church facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jok Church |
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| Born | November 28, 1949 Akron, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | April 29, 2016 (aged 66) Castro District, San Francisco, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer, Cartoonist |
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Notable works
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Beakman's World You Can With Beakman and Jax You Can with Beakman: Science Stuff You Can Do by Andrews-McMeel Publishing |
Jok Richard Church was an American cartoonist. He was born on November 28, 1949, and passed away on April 29, 2016. Jok Church is best known for creating the comic strip You Can With Beakman and Jax. This popular comic strip later became the TV show Beakman's World. The show taught kids about science in a fun way.
The Beakman's World TV series first aired on September 18, 1992. It was shown on The Learning Channel and many other stations. A year later, on September 18, 1993, it moved to the CBS Saturday morning children's lineup. At its most popular, the show was seen in almost 90 countries around the world.
Creating Beakman's World
Jok Church created his comic strip You Can with Beakman & Jax in 1991. He first made it for his local newspaper in Marin County, California. He got the idea after answering kids' letters for Lucasfilm. His comic strip was special because it was the first newspaper comic drawn and shared by computer. He used a Macintosh SE computer and Adobe Illustrator-88 software.
The comic strip did not just give answers to readers' questions. Instead, it gave instructions for fun experiments. This way, kids could discover the answers themselves. Jok Church would also post his weekly comic strip on his Twitter page. He would do this the week after newspapers had published it.
Jok Church passed away in San Francisco on April 29, 2016. He died from a heart attack.
Early Life and Career
Jok Church was born in Akron, Ohio. He grew up in Akron and Munroe Falls, Ohio. He went to high school in Stow, Ohio. After leaving home, Church traveled to San Francisco, California. There, he started working in radio. He became a news director at radio stations like KTIM, KERS, and KZAP.
Jok Church also worked as the webmaster for the environmental artist Christo. He met Christo in 1976. This was during the time Christo was installing his famous art project called "Running Fence."
Inspiring Talks
Jok Church gave a short talk at the TED conference in Monterey, California. This was on March 7–10, 2007. His talk was called "A circle of caring." At the time of his death, his talk had been translated into 41 languages. It had also been viewed over 649,000 times. The talk shared two stories from his life. These stories were about creating safe and supportive spaces for people who needed help.
The TED Blog noted Jok Church's death on May 1, 2016.
