Laurie Lewis (b. 1930)

Lewis brought previous experience with offset production from New York to the University of Toronto Press (UTP) in 1963. Her career represents several important transitions in design. Not only does it span the extraordinary thirty-year period of change from metal to digital, roughly 1960 - 1990, but it also overlaps the important final phase of the career of one of the truly formative personalities in Canadian design, Allan Fleming. She provided liaison among designers, typesetters, and printers, often laying out dummies or copy-counting texts to ensure they fit into proper page multiples. In a way, her role was a precursor to the computer itself: she was equipped with an understanding of the many stages in print production, and able to oversee their smooth realization. Some of her major projects included working closely with Carl Dair during the production of his book Design with Type, the visual identity system for the University of Toronto and the Anglican and United Churches' hymn book. She also played an integral role in the design community and worked with regional representatives across Canada to form the national organization of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. In 1990 she retired from the Press to pursue her other interests in writing and publishing.