I am where I am because of Don Goldman, who passed away recently.

Don graduated from RIT and began a career in the printing industry. He worked at McArdle Printing Company in Washington, DC. He joined them as an estimator but because of a diverse printing background he became the company’s project manager with responsibility for bringing in new technologies

He took a job at an association called GCCA which had a division called National Cold Type Association. It began with users of the IBM Composer and AM Varityper strike-on typewriter/typesetters. Don expanded its scope to include phototypesetting users. The group was renamed the National Composition Association.

My first contact with him was when he contacted industry suppliers to produce comparison sheets on the various machines. I was the Marketing Communications Manager at Compugraphic Corp. in 1971 and was the first to provide the information. The Museum of Printing has a copy of that binder.

I left CG in 1972 to build my own business and Don asked me to work with him. The first public speech I ever gave was for Don at RIT. I read the speech. A month later we were in Connecticut for a conference and I lost track of the slides and their link to my notes. So I just talked about each slide as it came up. Don said “Do that from now on.”

We travelled America giving talks about phototypesetting. I took trains but had to fly from Kansas City to San Francisco with him. He liked to say he was the last person to fly with me. Usually, he would do the morning session and I would do the afternoon. As with most speakers, we had a series of jokes that we used. At one event, he had a commitment so I did the AM and he did the PM. I used every one of his jokes. He could not figure out why the laughs were subdued.

Don became the principal of Consultware a Boston area based graphic arts management and technologies organization providing services in the areas of production management including estimating, scheduling and computer-based management information systems. A veteran of the printing industry, his expertise includes providing system audits along with system selection/implementation services. 

He joined the Museum of Printing early on and always brought folks by.

Don Goldman gave me a start on a 60-year career in the printing industry. He made a difference and should be remembered.