Chuck Okerlund manager of offset for Boeing

By Bob Neubauer

Our cover story on Boeing, the winner of the In-Print 97 Best of Show award, comes as a bittersweet triumph for the aerospace company. Sadly, the manager of Boeing's offset department, Chuck Okerlund, passed away at the recent International Publishing Management Association conference in Reno, just hours before he was to receive the award. Because In-Plant Graphics and IPMA always keep the identity of the Best of Show winner a secret until the award is presented, Chuck never even know his department was this year's winner.

I interviewed Chuck for the cover story on page 22 a few weeks before the conference, never telling him that his in-plant had won. He was extremely cooperative nonetheless and even organized a photo shoot so that we could publish the accompanying photos of his shop and his coworkers.

I ran into Chuck at the IPMA conference and we chatted for a few minutes between sessions. Typical of his conscientious nature, he was concerned about whether I had received the photos and if I thought the quality was good enough. I was really looking forward to shaking his hand up on stage during the awards ceremony and congratulating him on winning Boeing's fourth Best of Show in eight years. It was a sad ceremony for many of us there in Reno.

Chuck had been in charge of Boeing's Precision Printing department for about six years. I saw the operation when I toured Boeing's facility last year to write the cover story for our May 1996 issue. Chuck had worked at Boeing for 32 of his 56 years. He was a dedicated, generous man—a true asset to the in-plant printing world. His professionalism and kindness will truly be missed.

I know if Chuck was reading this, though, he'd insist that I stop talking about him and give his employees the credit for winning yet another Best of Show award for Boeing. Their hard work, he told me during our interview, is what makes Boeing's in-plant so strong.

So from all of us at IPG, IPMA and the entire in-plant industry, hats off to the employees of Boeing's Precision Printing department for a job well done. And thanks again Chuck for helping to make the in-plant community a little stronger.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

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