WhatTheyThink mourns the loss of David Mainwaring. “Uncle Dave” graduated North Quincy High School, in 1955, and held an Associate degree from Wentworth Institute, Boston, and a Bachelor of Science from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he was an Industrial Psychology major. He paid his way through college by teaching himself radio broadcasting electronics, becoming a licensed radio broadcasting engineer, then working as a chief engineer at local radio stations. After serving in the Coast Guard, he worked as an electrical designer at the Fore River Ship Yard.

After college, Dave worked in purchasing at Radio Shack and soon moved to 3M. After 3M, Dave “chased greener pastures” including the Elastimold Division of Amerace Corp and Anderson Power Products. He has done extensive professional level training along with consultative selling. In the 1990s, he launched, developed, and managed some of the earliest online discussion forums, including Digital Art Exchange (DAX), the first managed Internet and application service provider for the graphic communications industry. DAX then tasked Dave with developing a discussion forum called PrintPlanet.com. Dave left PrintPlanet in 2007 and retired in 2014. Dave passed away last week at the age of 80.

Said Chuck Gehman: “I am terribly sad to hear of Dave’s passing, but I am grateful for the very exciting and fun years we spent together. I met Dave in 1996 when he had just started ‘The Computer-to-Plate-Pressroom.’ CTPP, as we called it, was an incredibly fun, fast-growing zone on the nascent Internet of the time. Most people would be shocked to hear that Dave knew nothing about printing or CTP. What Dave knew about was people, and he was a master at helping them have nice, interesting conversations. Together, he and I turned CTPP into PrintPlanet.com e-communities, expanded the subject matter, built supporting technology, and grew it to tens of thousands of subscribers. Dave became the industry’s favorite Uncle. We threw some amazing parties. That’s how I’ll always remember him…holding court at the PrintPlanet parties at DDAP (remember this?), GraphExpo, PRINT, Seybold, and other industry events. I still have my CTPP buttons and PrintPlanet T-shirts!”

Added Dave Zwang: “I first met Dave at VuePoint, where he told me about his effort to start an online forum for print professionals. It was one of the first of its kind. It grew rather rapidly and was a place where you could share stories, ask questions and get answers about products and problems. Equipment and supplier vendors ultimately joined in the discussion as well. He understood the value of this type of venue and did a great job getting it started and keeping it going for all these years. He was a really great guy and will surely be missed.”

Said Cary Sherburne: “Dave was passionate about the printing industry, and always willing to share his knowledge and expertise. He graciously gave me many interviews, and I always learned something new when talking to him. He will be missed.”