Printing ‘icon’ Barry Johnson to retire

News Limited’s national production director George Calvi announced today that group technical manager Barry Johnson will retire at the end of the year after 47 years with the company.

“Barry is a publishing icon at News and is widely regarded as the father of our modern day production operations,” says Calvi. “Many of Barry’s ideas, designs and work flow concepts in our metro presses became the benchmark for the world and are now widely used throughout the industry,” he said.

Calvi said Johnson’s mark at News was typified at the NorthernTerritory News in Darwin: he installed the paper’s first offset pressesin 1977, installed bigger ones in 1984 and is now overseeing their moveto the latest computer-to-plate technology.

Johnson began hiscareer with News Limited in 1964 working as a compositor in Canberra onproduction of the first edition of The Australian.

Moving toSydney when the paper’s production did, he began working oncomputerised typesetting and photo composition before overseeing one ofthe company’s largest investments, the introduction of colour pressesthroughout the group.

Johnson’s expertise was also in demandinternationally. He managed the installation of new presses at The NewYork Post for two years and his ideas are incorporated at many otherprinting sites around the world.

News Limited chairman and chiefexecutive officer John Hartigan thanked Mr Johnson for almost half acentury’s service: “It’s impossible to quantify the contribution he hasmade, not only to production here at News, but to the newspaperpublishing industry worldwide,” says Hartigan.

“We shall miss him inevery respect: as a master in his field, a trusted colleague and afriend. We wish him a healthy and happy retirement – he deserves it,and he’s certainly earned it.”