Communication Arts

I was born in 1946 in Richmond California , a blue-collar hamlet on the San Francisco Bay famous for its Kaiser Shipyards and the astonishingly malodorous Standard Oil Refinery.

From the earliest age I was imagining, drawing and building, with a special affinity for automobiles.

I received my BS in Industrial Design (Automobile Design) from Art Center College in Los Angeles in 1970. I needed work and found it in Los Angeles at the design Office of Charles and Ray Eames. Charles and Ray Eames--- the unassuming superstars now recognized as America's answer to what the future might look like and why.

Almost immediately I saw there was more to design than fenders, engines and hubcaps. My eyes were opened to Design as a way of looking at everything . There I met Richard Foy, a gifted and intense designer and were it not for that meeting, Boulder and Beer would never have intersected. Not exactly - there was a “Boulder Beer…”

In 1971 Richard arrived in Boulder and began a design practice, impressing the community with his enthusiasm, intelligence and phenomenal design ability. From time to time he'd call me extolling the assets of this lively, beautiful Rocky Mountain haven. With each call the draw of the place and the chance of starting a business with someone I admired proved irresistible.

In 1973 I arrived for a look-see. Love at first sight. In November of that year, Richard and I officially formed Communication Arts Incorporated. Boulder has blessed me with remarkable opportunities and a third partner Janet Martin, who's about to clock her 30 th year with CommArts. It has been so far, 33 years of innumerable talented colleagues, priceless friends, and enduring clients and projects.

Thousands of miles on the bike and countless trout on the fly.

My marriage to Anne and my two great boys Peter and James are the best thing that resulted from that move thirty-three years ago. So although we may be here to talk about my role and that of CommArts' in changing Boulder, the real story is how this remarkable place has changed me.

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