Remembering Edward W. ‘Ned’ Evans, a Driving Force of Carnegie Mellon’s Printing Program
MT. LEBANON, PA—March 7, 2012—Edward W. “Ned” Evans, a retired teacher and department head at Carnegie Mellon University’s Undergraduate Business School, now Tepper School of Business, died Monday of complications from a stroke at Asbury Heights Health Center in Mt. Lebanon. He was 81.
Born in Pittsburgh, Mr. Evans was raised in Mt. Lebanon and attended Mt. Lebanon High School. He graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in Printing Management.
Mr. Evans was also in the ROTC Program, and was called to serve in Korea in 1953 as a 2nd Lieutenant. He rose to Commanding Officer of the 8038th Engineering Map Reproduction Detachment in the 8th Army in Seoul, Korea, and left the Army in 1954 as a 1st Lieutenant.
Then Mr. Evans went to work for the Miller Printing Machinery Co. in Pittsburgh as an assistant to the marketing manager. After a very successful 25-year career, he left Miller as vice president of sales and market planning.
In 1977, Mr. Evans returned to Carnegie Institute, now Carnegie Mellon University, and revived the Printing Management Program, which had been dormant since 1964. An industry pioneer and visionary, he foresaw the impact that computers would have on the printing industry.
Mr. Evans recognized the need to train future executives who would be able to manage rapid technological change. He was quoted in 1977 as saying, “Our goal is to prepare managers capable of adapting to future technological developments by providing the students with thorough backgrounds in management science and computer-based graphic communications systems.”
From 1977 until his retirement in 1995, he dedicated himself to that cause and changed the face of the printing industry by teaching and influencing a great number of current industry leaders. One of Mr. Evans’ students was 1986 graduate Marc Olin, who went on to become senior vice president and general manager for Commercial Print Systems for EFI.
