Keeping Score on Ballard Street
Jerry Van Amerongenwas born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He spent the first 17 years of his professional life in corporate sales, marketing, and product management, coming to cartooning at age 40. Van Amerongen's boyhood memories were shaped by the ethnic influences of his Dutch and Polish heritage, images of roly-poly women in large print dresses and rotund men in baggy trousers.Jerry lives in Minnesota with his wife, Linda, and a moderately trained Labrador named Rosie.