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Ink Industry Mourns Maurice Carruthers

Long-time Sun Chemical Performance Pigments leader remembered by colleagues as a tremendous friend.

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David Savastano, Editor12.22.20

Maurice Carruthers passed away on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. He was 72.

Maurice joined the pigment industry in 1966 as a dry color technician working on phthalocyanine with Ciba-Geigy in his native Scotland. He quickly earned the notice of his superiors, receiving honors as the top lab technician and receiving a scholarship at the University of Manchester, where he earned a degree in chemistry.

In 1976, Maurice joined Sun Chemical, heading to the US, where he has held numerous positions, ranging from technical, manufacturing and sales, ultimately rising to VP and GM, Printing Ink Industry at Sun Chemical Performance Pigments.

He was a longtime supporter of industry associations, including the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers (NAPIM) and the National Printing Ink Research Institute (NPIRI). Maurice served as a member of the NPIRI Board of Directors, was a graduate member of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, and also worked with ETAD, FTA and CPMA throughout the years.

Maurice deservedly earned many industry honors, including NAPIM’s Technical Associate Member (TAM) Service Award (2009), NAPIM’s Pioneer Award (2014) and the Metro New York Man of the Year Award (also in 2014).

Colleagues Remember Maurice

To say that Maurice was revered by his countless friends would be an understatement. Whether he was playing golf, enjoying time at a bar or discussing pigment technology, Maurice always enjoyed life.

“Maurice truly loved and was a legend in the ink industry,” said Myron Petruch, president and CEO, Sun Chemical. His personality was larger than life and always brought a smile to all around him.”

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Maurice for over 40 years,” said Edward T. Polaski, VP sales – Americas for Sun Chemical Corporation Performance Pigments. “He was a truly ‘unique’ individual. Not only a co-worker and mentor in many ways, but I am also proud to call him a friend. Maurice made his mark on Sun Chemical and the ink industry, he will be missed.”

Chris Allen, global key account manager at Sun Chemical Performance Pigments, said he first met Maurice when Allen was newly introduced to sales and was with Iovite, Inc. in the early 1980s.

“I had traveled to Cincinnati to do a presentation on ink vehicles with our technical director Bob Griffith,” Allen recalled. “Bob became ill the day of the meeting and left me to do the presentation on my own. I walked into the conference room and was met by several of Sun Chemical’s best and brightest Ph.D. pigment chemists, flushed color formulators and Maurice, who ran the business serving the ink industry.

“Maurice could tell right away that I was nervous and certainly out of my element in front of those whose everyday vernacular includes stoichiometry,” he continued. “What he did, as only Maurice could do, was to crack jokes and to put me at ease. Once he loosened me up, the rest of our discussion went well and Sun Chemical Pigments eventually became one of our largest customers.

“After the meeting, we met later for drinks and dinner, and Maurice quickly became a great friend. Years later he would make the trip from Cincinnati to New Jersey along with another friend, Joe Barton Sr., to attend my wedding,” Allen added. I have always said that if you were his friend, he would give the shirt off his back to help you. He was just that type of person.”

Jeff Randolph, director of sales, ALVAR, Inc., first met Maurice in 1983, when Maurice was transferring back to Cincinnati, OH from the Muskegon, MI site.

“I had just joined Sun Chemical after working for Borden Chemical for 13 years,” Randolph said. “We hit up an instant friendship from day one, which lasted until his passing December 10th.”

Dave Thompson, recently retired from Heucotech, met Maurice back in 1977, and remained close friends.

“I met Maurice during the summer of 1977 after I started at Sun Chemical,” Thompson said. “He had been hired the year before and was being trained to replace Fran Gleason as the lead technical person for flush color. We worked in related departments for 26 years, the last five years in the same department as colleagues.

“After I left, we played golf together every Sunday morning for over 12 years,” added Thompson. “It was always the two of us plus two others, which changed over the time frame. We both shared the same character in that we were really good losers but terrible winners, probably the reason the other two partners found that losing a golf match to us wasn't a pleasant experience. We even traveled to Scotland to play golf together with six others, mainly guys from the ink and coatings industry.”

Allen also noted that Maurice was an excellent golfer and a tough competitor.

“In sports, he was also legendary,” Allen added. “He would often find a way to tell his golfing partners about the tree line on the right side of the fairway and how close it was when there was money riding on the match. In my case, I always found a way to hit it in the trees on command. Maurice always took advantage of that in me. Once he knew what your weakness was he never missed a chance to exploit it for financial gain. Maurice was also an avid dart player who would only get better as the night got longer. Those who engaged him in a game early, ended up most often giving money back later in the night.”

Thompson also noted that Maurice was an exceptional pigment technician.

“In the late 1980s, a number of large printers who had their own ink producing rooms or were planning to open one were interested in more flowable flush,” Thompson noted. “The existing technology was very firm, stiff, near solid flushes. Maurice was the brains behind Sun's developments. He of course was responsible for all of Sun's external flush developments in the 1980s and 1990s, but the leadership on the flowable flushes was the most significant.

“When you went into an ink lab or production facility with him, you were always greeted by a smile and open arms. While many lab managers in the ink room labs didn't always welcome outside assistance, Maurice was a major exception. He was a welcome visitor. His manner was very calming and put people at ease,” Thompson added.

“Maurice made sure Sun Pigments was on the cutting edge for innovation,” Randolph said. “He had a strong chemistry background but had the unique ability to blend his knowledge with a practical approach. He worked side by side with his customers, technical departments and Sun's vendors to develop the best flush colors for the sheetfed and heatset ink markets. He made certain they were the world leaders.”

“In business, he was always in search of growing sales and filling the Sun Chemical manufacturing plants and he did that time and time again,” said Allen. “He would be in the field with salespeople and discussing technical problems encountered in the pressroom, and the next day he would be in the lab and then the plant making a modification to a pigment or a flushed color product, and hustling it out the door. There are truly so few people in the industry that could have done that, and Maurice was one of the very few. He would often comment that he had sold ‘over a billion dollars of pigment’ throughout his career. Not too many people can refute that or confirm it, but it sounds just like Mo, and I believe it could very well be true.”

Kustom Group owner Michael Gerkin Sr. said he was friends with Maurice for about 35 years.

“He was always fair and willing to share his considerable knowledge of the industry. I considered him to be one of my best friends in the industry,” said Gerkin. “If you knew him, you might guess that most of the stories that concern my history with Maurice are of XXX rated variety. However, my family and I always looked forward to the annual NAPIM convention, and the chance to catch up with Maurice. On a personal basis, I was fortunate to make several golfing/fishing trips with Maurice. It was impossible to have a bad time with Maurice around unless he was playing bad golf!”

“I knew Maurice for over 10 years, although every encounter with him usually at NAPIM made it seem like I knew him for a lot longer,” said Vivy DaCosta, VP administration & sales directorate for hubergroup Canada Limited. “This was because he was always welcoming and had a special way of making me feel comfortable and engaged in conversation on any subject.

“Maurice had a very special bond and relationship with his customers and colleagues,” added DaCosta. “He was dedicated, always good natured and looked out for his customer's best interests. In whatever he did and said he was a professional who believed that exceptional service and a good quality product matter more than ever. His special rapport and personal touch with customers and with his business associates made him the success he was in our industry.”

“Maurice was a smart, gentle giant always sporting a beaming smile that radiated calmness and confidence, sincerity and warmth, a keen golfer with a wonderful sense of humor on and off the course,” DaCosta said. “He was one of a kind who will sadly be missed by me and all who were privileged to know him but whose wonderful memories and legacy will always live on.”

“I don't think any friend, acquaintance or colleague of Maurice could or would offer anything other than a smile when thinking of him,” said Dan Shevkun, senior director, technical services at Superior Printing Ink.

John Jilek Sr., president of Inksolutions LLC, noted that he and his wife Patti knew Maurice for more than 40 years.

“He was a great friend,” Jilek said. “We had many enjoyable times together and he always went the extra mile to help me in business. His major accomplishment was his personality. I don't know a person in our industry who didn't like him and enjoyed his company.”

“He was a true asset to Sun Chemical and an ‘ambassador of goodwill’ to our industry,” said Jilek. “The only problem I ever had with Mo was understanding his misuse of the English (American) vocabulary. Patti and I will miss him. Our thoughts and prayers go out for Maurice and his family.”

John Copeland, executive director of NAPIM, noted that Maurice had vast experience and knowledge in pigments on the technical and sales side.

“I can honestly say that over the years I knew Maurice, he was happy every time I met him. I have two images of Maurice, one of him in a tuxedo and one in golf clothes!” Copeland added.

Two retired leaders of Sun Chemical also offered their thoughts on Maurice.

“He was called from the early days 'Mo' by the Sun Chemical folks,” Edward E. Barr, retired chairman, president and CEO of Sun Chemical, recalled. “In addition to his contribution as a very talented pigment chemist, he also introduced us to the foibles of the Scots and their drinking habits, which we readily learned to adopt. Mo also introduced Scottish football to Muskegon when he went there as a pigment chemist, and lots of good times were had by the people of Muskegon at the bar. He was a great guy and very talented and a terrific person.”

Peter Ludwig was a long-time colleague with Maurice at Sun Chemical Performance Pigments.

“His career started to understudy the legendary Fran Gleason's flush colorwork. Needless to say, he became a master of that technology in no time,” Ludwig recalled. “Together with his European pigment knowledge, he was responsible at first to help the plant managers globally and later on help the sales force as product manager for the ink industry.

“He enjoyed life, made friends easily and was liked by his customers and colleagues alike,’ Ludwig added. “We worked with Mo domestically and abroad in Denmark and found him to be very intelligent and creative, just a great guy. We will miss him.”

Thompson said that those who didn't know Maurice well probably didn't appreciate how generous he was with his money and time.

“He was sometimes too generous, as he couldn't say no to friends or even acquaintances when asked for help financially, his car, or whatever was needed,” he noted. “When I needed to temporarily move to Muskegon to start their new red plant to produce dry color for publication gravure, I brought my family with me. Maurice was the technical manager of the Muskegon plant for several years and went out of his way to introduce me to his colleagues and my wife and me to his circle of friends in the area, organizing social events like a couple’s golf outing to let us assimilate into the community and make the transition easier.

“My wife really appreciated it as it was a difficult move for her,” Thompson added. “He even arranged baby sitters for our young daughter so we could join another couple and him for Friday or Saturday nights. My daughter became friends with his stepdaughters and he even made it easier for her also. He was a guy who was a great friend to those who knew him and never met a stranger who didn't almost instantly like him. He would enter a room full of strangers and leave having a number of new friends. He will be missed.”

“Maurice was one of the most competitive people I have ever met,” Randolph added. “This was not only true for work but carried over to every aspect of his life (golf, darts, betting horses or whatever). I believe this can be attributed to his father, Jimmy, and twin brother, Graham. Maurice had the candid ability to blend in anywhere, Scotland, Muskegon, Cincinnati, Brussels, Denmark or anywhere Sun Chemical sent him. I will truly miss our times together and weekly conversations. I could go on forever about Maurice but will end it by saying he wasn't cheated in life. Maurice Monro Carruthers was one of a kind and a dear friend.”

“The final thought and memory for me were at my first Sun Chemical Pigments international sales meeting after joining the company in 1993," Allen concluded. “We were at Chateau Montebello in Quebec. We had shared rooms at that time and I was set up to room with Maurice. I stayed fairly late into the evening meeting the entire group, which at that time was well over 100 people. I decided to head up to make sure my head was clear for the next full day of meetings. When I awoke the next day, I looked at the nightstand and there was a beer that Maurice had brought up for me. He always was thinking of others, and in my view, we need more of that in this world…..especially now. I will never forget him for that and for all the laughs we shared.”

Maurice is survived by two sons, Stephen (Pru) Carruthers and Martin Carruthers; a grandson, Scott Carruthers; and his sister, of Graham (Katherine) Carruthers.