Larry Lester of Ink on Paper Solutions Is Selected as PIASC's Executive of the Year
LOS ANGELES—February 25, 2015—Larry Lester, president of Ink on Paper Solutions in Anaheim, CA, was unanimously selected by Printing Industries Association of Southern California's (PIASC) Public Relations Committee as this year's PIASC Executive of the Year and the recipient of the highly-regarded Ben Franklin Award.
Lester's whole life has been practically spent in the printing industry. He was born in San Francisco; however, shortly after his birth, his family relocated to the Southern California area. At the young age of nine his printing career began when he went to work for his grandfather, father and uncles in their printing company, E.O. Lesters & Sons, where he kept busy doing various jobs and learning the printing trade.
Entering high school, he became part of the first graduating class at a new concept technical school in San Gabriel. It was here in Los Angeles at Don Bosco Tech that Lester studied and learned more about the printing industry. After graduation in 1959, he started working as an apprentice pressman and later went on to become a lead pressman. Lester sold printing services for a few years, and then decided to accept a position as a pressroom foreman. He later joined the sales department of Dahlgren Manufacturing in 1972 selling dampener systems. It was while working for Dahlgren that he met Julius Domotor at a Litho Club meeting in Los Angeles. He was attending the meeting in which Julius was invited to give a presentation about the Domotor Roller.
He maintained contact with Julius and within a year they became partners, promoting and marketing the Domotor Roller. They licensed the Baldwin Co. to manufacture and sell the Domotor Roller; a unique hickey eliminating system for litho presses. The Domotor Roller was renamed and marketed by the Baldwin Co. as the Delta Roller.
Lester served with the Baldwin Co. as a Western Regional Manager for the next five years overseeing sales and service. It was shortly after this that Lester and his wife, Georgiana, made the decision to start their own printing business. Lester and Georgiana founded Lester Lithograph on May 5, 1980. The intent was to build a company focused on traditional craftsmanship, to service printers and color separators in the small-press format.
In 1982, the Baldwin Co. was pursuing the idea of driving a dampening form roller. While looking at a new Epic design for his G.T.O., he thought there was a way to drive the dampening form roller on the new Epic design. Lester contacted John McPhee, Head of Engineering at the Baldwin Co. and arranged to build a prototype with Epic Products that would be installed at Lester Lithograph. McPhee and Lester did extensive testing and found additional benefits for the Delta Drive in the dampening position. This allowed for a new patent to be obtained in the names of John McPhee and Larry Lester.
Over the years, Lester has worked as a Litho Consultant for Harris Printing Press, Miller Printing Equipment, Epic Products, Baldwin Co. and several other printing companies in Southern California.
He dedicated much of his time to be on the steering committee of the Graphic Communications Technology at Don Bosco Tech for several years. He served on the PIASC Board of Directors since 1999, became Chairman of the Board in 2001 and received the Pioneer of the Year Award in 2003. In 2010 he sold Lester Lithograph and in 2014 he founded Ink on Paper. He continues his involvement with PIASC as a Buying Power Partner, offering members a 20 percent discount for litho consulting.
When Lester is not working as a litho consultant, he enjoys building hot rod cars. Lester and Georgiana take great delight in spending time with their five children, 13 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren!
The presentation of the Ben Franklin Executive of the Year Award will take place at PIASC's annual Graphics Night/Print Excellence Awards Banquet on Friday, April 10, 2015, at the Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry.
Event sponsors include: Blue Shield of California, CardConnect, Carlson Advisors, Cigna, Citizens Business Bank, Digital Printing Systems, Graphic Coatings, Health Net, Humana, Kaiser
Permanente, Kelly Paper, L.A. Envelope, Landmark Healthcare, PIASC Insurance Services, Preferred Employers Insurance, Spicers Paper, The Hanover Insurance Group, Thoro Packaging, unum, UPS, and Western Dental.
About PIASC
PIASC is the printing industry trade association in the greater Los Angeles area. With over 1,000 company members, it is the largest affiliate of Printing Industries of America-the national trade association for the printing and graphic arts industry.
Source: PIASC.
