A TAGA Giant Passes
Ray Prince, former TAGA president, executive vice president, and long-time board member, passed away on May 1, 2020. Ray was so respected as a TAGA and industry contributor that he was the 1997 recipient of the TAGA Honors Award for Lifetime Achievement, joining numerous other industry giants that have received our award (renamed the Michael H. Bruno Award).
As an industry consultant, educator, and advisor, he dedicated his 61-year career to helping printing companies improve in the areas of productivity and quality with the bottom-line objective of increasing their profitability. In his quest to do so, he conducted more than 1,000 consulting assignments assessing pressroom operations and press performance. He was also prolific as an educator and author, presenting numerous seminars and workshops, writing articles, and co-authoring books.
After getting hooked on printing as a teenager, Prince received an A.A.S. and B.S. in printing management from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and an M.S. in printing management from South Dakota State University.
Upon receiving his M.S. degree, Prince was hired by the legendary Mike Bruno at the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) in Pittsburgh. He had the opportunity to travel extensively, many times at Mike Bruno’s side, doing consulting. He attended every seminar, conference, and workshop given by GATF.
Prince’s next employment was with the Azoplate Corporation, a manufacturer of lithographic printing plates and other products for the printing industry. At Azoplate, Prince learned machine manufacturing with the advent of plate processors and other printing equipment.
After about nine years at Azoplate, Prince joined a commercial printer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and then was invited to return to GATF. This started Prince’s many years of consulting, lectures, writing, conducting seminars, and heavy travel. GATF merged with Printing Industries of America (PIA), and Prince was elevated to Director of Technical Service, with a large group of consultants reporting to him. Prince was then hired as a Vice President by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL) and resumed consulting. Prince attempted to retire in 2009 but quickly realized that retirement was not for him, and he started his own consulting practice.
Always a friend and supporter of education, Prince arranged for donations and funded what is now called the Raymond J. Prince Graphic Arts Center (RJPGAC) at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, now the largest graphic communication library in the world.
In addition to the TAGA Honors Award, Prince received many other accolades over this lengthy career, including the NAPL Vanguard Award for Achievement, Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) Harold Gegenheimer Award, and GATF Education Award of Excellence. He was inducted into the Benjamin Franklin Honor Society, NAPL Soderstrom Society, and Research and Engineering Council’s Nonpareil Society.
In an essay that he wrote for the recent Ben Franklin Honor Society BFHS Book of Wisdom, Prince provided present and future industry members the following advice:
- Hard work is a must.
- Get your education.
- Attend seminars, workshops, conferences, and expositions in your field.
- Be motivated and open to training.
- Do more than asked to do.
- Do not be intimidated by public speaking but pursue it.
- Become involved in industry associations.
- Research companies carefully before taking positions.
- Be a self-starter and innovator to further the interests of your company.
- When in a leadership position, motivate employees.
- Work to improve the physical work environment.
- Always leave a job on excellent terms.
- Try to give back to your industry every year.
- Develop a “Friends List.”
Prince’s abundant knowledge, passion for the industry, support of student and industry education, and love of TAGA will be sorely missed. Condolences can be sent to: Bonnie Prince, 249 Desperado Lane, Custer, South Dakota 57730.
[The above article borrows heavily from Ray Prince’s obituary, written by his friend and former TAGA board member, Harvey Levenson, Professor Emeritus, California Polytechnic State University]
Student Publication Awards
The student chapters had finished their journals for the student publication award competition when TAGA’s Annual Technical Conference was cancelled due to the pandemic. The TAGA Board quickly decided that it was imperative to finish the competition, and a set of journals was shipped to each judge. On May 13 the awards ceremony was held remotely using web conferencing software. Forty-five people participated, including student chapter members, advisors, and TAGA officers and board members.
Six schools competed this year: Ball State University, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), Clemson University, Grenoble INP-Pagora, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and Ryerson University.
After introducing each chapter and recognizing their impressive effort, Vice President of Education Bruce Myers proceeded to announce the recipient of each special recognition award, starting with the award for technical writing (Grenoble INP-Pagora), design quality (Cal Poly), production quality (Cal Poly), and electronic publication quality (Cal Poly). With each announcement, Myers paid tribute to past recipients of each award. The suspense built until it was time to recognize the grand prize, the Helmut Kipphan Cup, given to the journal judged best overall.
Congratulations to the 2020 Kipphan Cup winner—Ryerson University! Ryerson reclaims the Cup from last year’s winner, California Polytechnic State University, which will be shipping the Stanley Cup-like trophy to the RyeTAGA chapter in Toronto.
Prior to the conference, students submitted papers to the Harvey Levenson Undergraduate Student Paper Award and The Dusty Rhodes Graduate Student Paper Award. The winner of this year’s Levenson award is Mila Khatari of Ryerson University for her paper “Evaluating the Triple Bottom Line for Smart Packaging.” This year’s Rhodes award went to Himanshu Rana of Clemson University for his paper “Evaluating Hue Shifts in Spot Color Tints.” Congratulations to both individuals who will be receiving plaques recognizing their accomplishment and having their papers published in TAGA Proceedings.
Many student events had been planned for the conference, which will occur again next March 14–17 in Oklahoma City. Beyond our student chapter members, students from Western Michigan University, University of Houston, Bowling Green State University, and University of Wisconsin-Stout were planning to attend. We also had record financial support for student participation. We expect to carry this enthusiasm and participation forward to 2021.
Our 2020 Recipients:
- Harvey Levenson Undergraduate Student Paper Award—Mila Khatari, Ryerson University
- The Dusty Rhodes Graduate Student Paper Award—Himanshu Rana, Clemson University
- Technical Writing Special Recognition Award—Grenoble INP-Pagora
- Design Quality Special Recognition Award—California Polytechnic State University
- Production Quality Special Recognition Award—California Polytechnic State University
- Electronic Publication Special Recognition Award—California Polytechnic State University
- The Helmut Kipphan Cup Grand Prize—Ryerson University
TAGA Now Part of the PRINTING United Alliance
For several years TAGA had been ably managed by and a part of Printing Industries of America, a leading industry association. As of May 1, 2020, PIA merged with Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) to form a super-association, PRINTING United Alliance. Another part of that alliance is NAPCO Media, which publishes Printing Impressions, Packaging Impressions, and other trade publications and produces events. The new association will have offices in Fairfax, Virginia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The merger expands the marketing and logistical strength available to support TAGA.