A vinyl polymer pigment dispersing agent having a vinyl addition polymer backbone, one or more polymer side chains with pendant cyclic urea functional group(s) separated from the polymer backbone by at least 10 intervening atoms, and in some embodiments one or more polymer side chains comprising pendant urea functional groups separated from the polymer back-bone by less than 10 intervening atoms. The dispersing agent may be made by addition polymerizing a mixture of one or more vinyl monomers and one or more monomers having cyclic urea functional groups and vinyl functional groups. The dispersing agent may be combined with pigment particles, a carrier and an optional surfactant to make a pigment grind dispersion with excellent pigment wetting and dispersing properties.