Ron Spring - A Personal Tribute

 

 

 

It was probably in the late 1980’s that I first met Ron when he was managing director of Gerhardt Dies in Leytonstone. From the very first we got on very well discussing the early days of labels. It was a few years later when I was working for PIRA that Ron contacted me and asked if I would join his panel of judges for the FINAT label competition in The Hague. He asked me back for each successive year and then asked me to become a judge for the World Label Awards which he also chaired. What I had not realised was that he was grooming me to take over the chair from him when he retired. His dedication to and knowledge of the various production processes within the label industry was second to none. He was free with his advice and help when it came to selecting the winning entries in each competition. I felt that he was challenging his judges, including myself, to resolve any technical issues which arose he would then “gently” persuade you to make the right decision.

For many years after he retired I could still “feel” his presence whenever I had a particularly difficult issue to resolve I found myself thinking, what would Ron do in a case like this, it was if he was looking over my shoulder!

In the meantime Ron had been appointed to the chair of the FINAT Marketing Committee and was elected to the FINAT Board. Not content with organising the competitions he was a founder, with Mike Fairley of the now well established Labels & Labelling magazine. He and his wife Jean travelled the world promoting the use of self-adhesive labels to a whole host of different industries including the wine industry. As if this was not enough he edited the FINAT Educational Handbook so that future generations would benefit from his experience.

For FINAT’s 30th anniversary he co-edited a book with Robert Opie “The Self-Adhesive Label Progress and Innovation”. When the 50 th anniversary of FINAT came round Ron was very much involved with editing of the publication “United in Labels” which aptly describes his achievements and aspirations in the label industry. He united the label associations around the world with his challenges and enthusiasm. In 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Life membership of FINAT and in 2011 he was awarded a Special achievement award by the Labels and Labelling group. He organised and was involved in developing industry training workshops. In fact it is difficult to find an area of the self-adhesive label industry in which he was not involved.

Over the years since he stepped back from the label industry he retained an interest and was always wanting to know what was happening in the label industry, what new developments were taking place in fact in the garden of his cottage overlooking the valley in Tiverton he had an office absolutely full of memorabilia from his time in the industry. I often used to speak to him about an historical issue and he would unearth some information from amongst his many files which I was able to use in a display or an article showing how the label industry had progressed.

Then to my amazement he channelled his efforts into hostas and became well known in the South West of England for his knowledge and expertise, in fact we still have some of his plants in our garden, a fitting memorial to that part of his life. He was continually asked to judge the local floral displays and competitions in the Tiverton area and became something of a personality in plants and flowers.

As I said at the beginning of this tribute, to cover Ron’s achievements would take many more words than I have fashioned here. It would be true to say that words alone cannot express the respect and regard I personally have for him. He leaves a legacy for others to follow. A true gent of the profession his personality, sense of humour, advice and dedication will be sorely missed.

 

Tony White