Editing Donald Rooum (section)

==Early life and education==
Donald Rooum was born in [[Bradford]], [[Yorkshire]]. He registered as a [[conscientious objector]] but was pressured by his family into doing two years military service, starting January 1947. A resettlement grant following his discharge allowed him to study commercial design at [[Bradford College (England)|Bradford Regional Art School]] from 1949 to 1953.<ref> Page 3 in [[Philip Sansom]]'s Introduction to the original 1985 edition of ''Wildcat Anarchist Comics'', see 'References' below.</ref> A 1952 portrait of him<ref>[https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/donald-rooum-22585 ArtUK - Donald Rooum]</ref> by [[Frank Lisle]], one of his lecturers at the School, is displayed in The Hepworth, Wakefield.<ref>[https://hepworthwakefield.org/ The Hepworth, Wakefield]</ref>

From 1954 to 1966 Rooum worked as a layout artist and typographer in London advertising agencies. He then worked as a lecturer in typographic design at the [[London College of Printing]] until 1983. He studied life sciences at the [[Open University]] from 1973 to 1979, and was awarded a first class degree in 1980. He was elected Member of the [[Institute of Biology]] (incorporated into the [[Society of Biology]] in October 2009) and became a Chartered Biologist in 2004.

Rooum lived with Irene Brown from 1954 to 1983 and they had four children: Josephine Anne (born 1956), Penelope Jane (born 1958 died 1960), Mathew Donald (born 1960) and Rebecca Jane (born 1962).