John W. Seybold to Receive 2001 RIT Isaiah Thomas Award Sponsored by Xerox
The Isaiah Thomas Award, named for one of America’s great patriot printers, recognizes outstanding contributions made to the publishing industry. Seybold becomes the 22nd recipient of the award. The official presentation will be made April 11 at Seybold Seminars in Boston 2001 at the Hynes Convention Center.
Seybold began his work in the field of computerized composition in 1963, when he founded the world’s first computer-composition service bureau, a company which he named ROCAPPI, an acronym for Research on Computer Applications in the Printing and Publishing Industry. The company used a Fototronic CRT typesetter with an RCA301 computer programmed with software that Seybold and his associates defined and developed. He has made major and lasting contributions to the field of publishing technology.
"John W. Seybold is truly the father of the modern digital publishing industry," says Frank Romano, SPMS program chair. "He is an inspiration to our students and to our society."
"As a digital printing pioneer and leader, Xerox is proud to be sponsoring this award with RIT, a university with a rich heritage in printing and publishing," explained Elaine Wilde, senior vice president and general manager, Xerox Worldwide Graphic Arts Industry Business.
Publishing is part of Xerox’s $3 billion graphic arts industry, the largest industry segment for Xerox and one of the industry’s largest suppliers by revenue. Other segments within graphic arts are: commercial print/prepress, creative services, quick and franchise print, and service bureaus.
Seybold began his professional career as an economist, specializing in the field of industrial relations. During World War II, he served as wage stabilization director for the Third Region of the National War Labor Board. From 1946 until 1970, he was an impartial labor arbitrator on panels of the American Arbitration Association and as a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. Seybold also worked in the field of industrial relations on behalf of the Philadelphia Printing Industry from 1946 until 1960 and wrote The Philadelphia Printing Industry: A Case Study in Industry-wide Collective Bargaining. In 1970, he founded Seybold Consulting Group and became the principal consultant. He also served as editor and publisher for Seybold Publications Inc. whose products include The Seybold Report on Publishing Systems.
Isaiah Thomas established The Massachusetts Spy in 1779 at a print shop known as "the sedition factory" by the British colonial government. Legend has it that Thomas rode with Paul Revere to rouse the militia for the battles of Lexington and Concord. He continued his career as a publisher after the Revolutionary War, and in 1810 wrote The History of Printing in America, regarded as the basic source of information on early American printing and publishing.
Recent recipients of the Isaiah Thomas Award include Dona Violeta Barrios de Chamobbo, former president of Nicaragua; Gary B. Pruitt, president and CEO of McClatchy Co.; and William Burleigh, chairman of E.W. Scripps Co.
For further information, please contact Michael Kleper, RIT’s Paul and Louise Miller Distinguished Professor, at (716) 475-2773 or e-mail mlkppr@rit.edu.
Xerox Corporation is the leading provider of color and monochrome digital printers, copiers and related document processing equipment. Xerox also delivers solutions, services, software and supplies so that people in homes, offices and corporate and production-printing environments can create, manage and share ideas through paper or digital documents.
For more information about Xerox, visit www.xerox.com/news. XEROX®, The Document Company® and the digital X® are trademarks of Xerox Corp.
Seybold Seminars is a Key3Media Group Inc. (NYSE: KME) event.