SALT LAKE CITY — The Beehive State's printing industry honored its
"best of the best" Thursday, inducting six men and one woman into the
Utah Printers Hall of Fame.
The hall's class of 2010 comprises three
living printers — Wm. James Mortimer, James W. Cornwell and Blaine T.
Hudson — and four who are deceased — Lorin Wheelwright, Ezra Warner,
Jackie Nicholes and Joseph E. Johnson. Each was recognized as a "great
leader in the printing industry" during an induction ceremony and dinner
at Salt Lake City's Little America Hotel.
Louis Crandall, whose Crandall Historical
Printing Museum teams with the Printing Industries of Utah in
sponsoring the hall of fame, noted that printing has helped mold
civilization for centuries. "The same is true for the early history of
Utah, and printing continues to play a vital role in today's society,"
said Crandall.
Wm. James
(Jim) Mortimer's nickname "Deseret Jim" is well earned. Much of his
printing career has been spent working with one "Deseret" company or
another. His connection to the printing industry began in Cache County
as a 12-year-old boy, working as a paperboy for the Deseret News.
Mortimer earned a master's degree at Columbia University in 1957 before
working as a reporter and assistant business editor at the Deseret News.
He became sales manager for Deseret News
Press and later served for 13 years as Deseret Book's vice president and
general manager. In 1979, Mortimer returned to Deseret News Press,
overseeing its transition from a commercial printing firm to an internal
printing organization within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. He also served as secretary for the Scriptures Publication
Committee of the church during a pivotal period of LDS scripture
publication.
Mortimer was appointed publisher of the
Deseret News in 1985. He retired 15 years later. "Old printers never
die," he quipped. "They just miss their deadline."
Printer James
M. (Jim) Cornwell was a junior in high school when he began his journalism career — earning $5 a week at a Colorado weekly. Despite the
meager wages, he was smitten. "Once you're afflicted with journalism, a
highly contagious disease, it never leaves you," he said.
In 1949, Cornwell and
his wife, Betty, bought their first newspaper in Stanton, Neb. Six
years later, the Cornwells moved to Utah and bought the "Murray Eagle"
newspaper. They would later add the "Green Sheet" papers that were
circulated in several local communities. While holding the title of
publisher, Cornwell also knew his way around the print shop and
frequently helped assemble pages of the paper. The "Green Sheet" was
among the earliest Utah newspapers to convert to computerized
typesetting and offset printing.
Blain Hudson
was honored for being an industry innovator who "revolutionized printing
in the state of Utah." As a young man, he learned the printing business
from the ground up, working in every department at V.O. Young Co. In
1972, Hudson and his wife, Barbara, mortgaged their home to help pay for
a buyout of the company. The Blaine T. Hudson printing company would
become one of the largest printing companies in the United States. He
was selected as National Printer of the Year in 1978 and earned a
reputation in the industry for his innovation and forward-thinking. In
2004, Hudson was awarded the printing industry's Lifetime Achievement
Award.
In 1861,
pioneer printer Joseph E. Johnson packed up four printing presses in
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and moved to Utah, where he printed the first
newspaper outside Salt Lake City.
Jackie
Nicholes took over Quality Press, the printing business of her husband,
Budd Nicholes, when he died in 1979. For two decades she was a leader in
Utah's women's business community.
Ezra Warner
was a leader in the Utah printing community for over six decades and was
among the first to bring color printing into the region.
Lorin F.
Wheelwright was an innovator in refining the use of lithography and
color and served as the first president of the Printing Industries of
Utah.
E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com