Vale Rod Spencer, industry giant

The passing of Rod Spencer, at the age of 80 in Melbourne, has evoked a monumental wave of regard and tribute from the industry. Despite having retired over 20 years ago in 2001, he is still widely recognised and remembered.

Affectionately known as the ‘Silver Fox,’ Rod Spencer played an outstanding industry role in his 44 years with the one company, beginning with Seligson and Clare, the sole Heidelberg agency in the region, before it was acquired by Heidelberg.

A key figure in the introduction of new printing technology during the latter half of the 20th century, he participated in and initiated many of the changes that transformed printing during one of its most tumultuous eras. One of the most significant industry figures of his time, his career culminated in the role of sales and marketing director of Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand.

More than any other individual he bridged the sometimes rancorous divide between printers and the supply side, transforming the Heidelberg press sales core into a group of skilled and knowledgeable industry consultants. Along the way he was the first supplier to be voted Graphic Arts Person of the Year, an award of which he was enormously proud.

Rod Spencer was born in Adelaide, into a family that ran a butcher shop. As he told Alison Stieven-Taylor in an interview with Print21 on his retirement, from an early age he recognised his talents were in meeting and working with people.

"I used to talk to the women who would come into the shop. I thrived on that interaction, the face to face of selling, joking with the housewives. I knew from an early age that life in a butcher’s shop wasn’t for me. I didn’t want blood on my hands . . . instead I ended up with ink."

He began with an apprenticeship as a printer's engineer with Seligson & Clare, but quickly moved into a sales role. In 1973 he was appointed Victorian sales manager, moving his family to Melbourne. "It was at this point that I really began to understand what our business was about,” he said.

In 1980 he was made national marketing manager, a position where he believed he really hit his stride. “In this role I focused on developing a truly professional sales organisation. We began to employ graduates and under-graduates and moved tradesmen into the sales team giving us a sales force that had a good mix of knowledge and technical understanding."

When Heidelberg acquired Seligson & Clare in 1995, Rod was promoted to the role of sales & marketing director.

He nominated Heidelberg’s introduction of the GTO small offset press as one of the most crucial developments of his time in the industry. "When I went to drupa in 1972 for the first time, the industry was almost totally letterpress. At drupa that year, Heidelberg released a new product, a little thing called a GTO and it changed the industry forever.

“The GTO was a small offset jobbing press. Most general printing done in those days was on Heidelberg platens and cylinders and in one exhibition Heidelberg released this product and it turned the industry upside down. We couldn’t import enough of them. We were selling 150 units a year.”

One of the many tributes flowing from the industry comes from Savas Mystakidis, managing director of Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand. “I had the great pleasure to start my career at Heidelberg under the guiding eye of the great Rod Spencer. His knowledge, generosity, wisdom and charisma were inspiring as he helped all those around him like a father figure. He will be sadly missed and our thoughts and prayers go to his wife Patricia, family and friends.”

On a personal basis, I’d like to pay tribute to Rod’s key role in helping me start-up the first printing online news service, Graphics Online in 2000, which later became Print21. A good friend, he was always ready to embrace change where he could see a benefit for the industry and to help where he could.

Rod Spencer’s funeral will be held at 11.30am on Thursday 26th May 2022, at St Johns Church, 494 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham, Victoria.