John P Sweeney, a recognised industry expert in colour measurement and colour management technology for nearly four decades, died on July 14 at age 63 in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a graduate and active alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. John began his graphic arts industry career as a product manager at X-Rite in 1985. Kelly VandenBosch, who has since left the industry, started at X-Rite the very same day.
Many industry fellows mourn the death of John. An industry friend said, “John was an incredible mentor and friend — he taught me the ins and outs of the print industry, the complexities involved in developing and adopting print standards, and much of what I know about color and spectrophotometry came directly from him. John Charnock, a business analyst and industry consultant, shared similar sentiments when hearing of Sweeney’s passing. “John was a fundamental influence for me and many others in the world of print standards and color control. He was a regular attendee of the Digital Ad Lab (an agency group for standards in advertising) that I chaired for many years. Mark Geeves, Co-Founder and Director of Sales & Marketing at Color-Logic, admired John’s vast industry knowledge and also enjoyed spending time together with him outside the industry.
