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After nearly 60 years in the industry, Bob Larson remains as the past, present, and future of the IADD.
by Sean Riley, Associate Editor
SAYING THAT THE diemaking and diecutting industry is in Bob Larson's blood is akin to saying that politics is in the Kennedy's blood, or driving fast is an Earnhardt family trait. Certainly these affirmations are true, but possibly a bit understated. The fact of the matter is that like the Kennedy clan and the Earnhardt lineage, the Larsons have been immersed in their industry for three generations. And just like members of those slightly more famous families, the respect of their peers has come to Bob Larson in the form of the 2002 IADD Diecutter/Diemaker of the Year award presented by packagePRINTING magazine.
The 65-year-old Norwell, Mass. native has now become the first person in the history of the IADD to win all three of the association's top awards, having already accepted the President's Award in 1993 and the S. Ray Miller International Award, six years later. The third piece of his trifecta took a few more years, but he relishes the honor all the same. "I'm sort of in a state of amazement because it has been so many years and I always sat at the awards dinner every year and wondered 'who is it going to be this year?'" he says. "It's a wonderful thing, and I am very excited and humbled to be named Diecutter/Diemaker of the Year."
In his career, Larson has been both a diemaker and a diecutter, serving in key positions with family businesses from 1955 to 1986. During nearly 50 years in the business, he has always been involved "hands on" in some phase of the business.
Larson first began working in the industry when he was only five years old. He would tag along to his father's shop, the Boston Cutting Die Company, and sweep the floors, pick up empty coke bottles, and collect the working mens' soiled rags. As he got older, he began working in the shop on weekends and during summer breaks from school. When he enrolled in Northeastern University's College of Business Administration, he took part in the school's co-op program. "I would attend Northeastern for ten weeks and then work ten weeks at my father's facility," Larson says. "Each time I did this my father would have me do a different job, whether it be working the machinery or going out on the road in sales." He considers himself quite fortunate to receive such a "good, basic upbringing in the business."
by Sean Riley, Associate Editor
SAYING THAT THE diemaking and diecutting industry is in Bob Larson's blood is akin to saying that politics is in the Kennedy's blood, or driving fast is an Earnhardt family trait. Certainly these affirmations are true, but possibly a bit understated. The fact of the matter is that like the Kennedy clan and the Earnhardt lineage, the Larsons have been immersed in their industry for three generations. And just like members of those slightly more famous families, the respect of their peers has come to Bob Larson in the form of the 2002 IADD Diecutter/Diemaker of the Year award presented by packagePRINTING magazine.
The 65-year-old Norwell, Mass. native has now become the first person in the history of the IADD to win all three of the association's top awards, having already accepted the President's Award in 1993 and the S. Ray Miller International Award, six years later. The third piece of his trifecta took a few more years, but he relishes the honor all the same. "I'm sort of in a state of amazement because it has been so many years and I always sat at the awards dinner every year and wondered 'who is it going to be this year?'" he says. "It's a wonderful thing, and I am very excited and humbled to be named Diecutter/Diemaker of the Year."
In his career, Larson has been both a diemaker and a diecutter, serving in key positions with family businesses from 1955 to 1986. During nearly 50 years in the business, he has always been involved "hands on" in some phase of the business.
Larson first began working in the industry when he was only five years old. He would tag along to his father's shop, the Boston Cutting Die Company, and sweep the floors, pick up empty coke bottles, and collect the working mens' soiled rags. As he got older, he began working in the shop on weekends and during summer breaks from school. When he enrolled in Northeastern University's College of Business Administration, he took part in the school's co-op program. "I would attend Northeastern for ten weeks and then work ten weeks at my father's facility," Larson says. "Each time I did this my father would have me do a different job, whether it be working the machinery or going out on the road in sales." He considers himself quite fortunate to receive such a "good, basic upbringing in the business."
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