My sincerest condolences to the family.

We can see his words here:
http://typophile.com/user/7891/track

Mike Diaz

Oh, man. That is very unexpected and tragic.

I've known Will for about ten years, running into him now an then through various professional and typographic concerns.

I first heard of him when he wrote a column about typography for Advertising Techniques* magazine back in the early '80s. At the time he worked at a typesetting house in Minneapolis.

Last time I saw him was at TypeCon in Buffalo. I participated in the Ludlow workshop he gave there. He couldn't make it to Atlanta this year, but was hoping to do more Ludlow workshops in the future.

Wow. So sad. He will be missed.

(*Sister publication to Art Direction magazine.)

*sigh* Sad news indeed...

Sad indeed. Always enjoyed what he had to say.

Alas. I can't remember how long I've known Will, but I do remember that in all those years I don't recall ever having the kind of disagreement that sends me off grumpy. I know I can't take the credit for that: it's all down to Will being such a gentleman, so careful in his choice of words, and so knowledgeable about his craft. Vere, requiescat in pace.

thanks from here also, charles. i’m sorry to hear this.

i will raise a glass to will powers this evening
(or sooner if i get lucky).

-bowerbird

That's a surprise.
Last time I was with him Craig Eliason and I were having lunch with him at the restaurant across the road from TypeCon in Buffalo.
I saw his Ludlow presentation at TypeCon, which was wonderful, and have looked at the pamphlet he printed for his erudite 2003 TypeCon presentation, New Types for New Books, from time to time.
It was (and still is) heartening to know that a master typographer was an advocate of new typeface designs.
Now, I wish I had told him that, and thanked him.

My condolences to the family as well.

- simon

I'm stunned and saddened. As kind and generous in the handful of times I got to meet with him in the past few years as he was in posts here.

Early last October, Will wrote me an email with two items. First was that he had decided the beautiful two-volume Deberny & Peignot 1927 specimen he had dug out of his treasure trove and loaned to me for my Face the Nation exhibition needn't be returned; he was offering it to my university's library as a gift.

The second item was that somehow he had arranged to commandeer the 6:30 am slot at a small local radio station the following Monday, and he invited me to listen is as he would be playing Ray Charles's early jazz recordings. I listened; it was fantastic.

Another memory that makes me smile is Kent Lew at Buffalo TypeCon announcing to convention-goers that Will had left but wanted everyone to hear his advice to place the lead Ludlow slugs he'd given out as souvenirs of his workshop/presentation in an easily accessible location within luggage lest they raise the eyebrows of airport security.

We've lost a knowledgeable resource and a generous friend.

Very sad news. Will was one of those humble brilliants — if you don't know his name it was because he was a man much more interested in promoting his craft than promoting himself. Like John, I always had a good feeling about and around him.

New Types for New Books is well written and so insightful. Every typographer, and especially every type designer, could learn something from it. It's great evidence of his enthusiasm and expertise.

Now he is doing his art next to the supreme editor.

Descanse en paz.

We are all lucky to have had his participation here on Typophile.
I'm sure he will be missed.

Damn.

A wonderful guy - a terrible loss. He was always helpful, always willing to share his expertise and experience, and set a high standard for book design and production. Those of us from Minnesota credit him for making our state's heritage look much more interesting than anybody else's. Thanks for everything, Will!

I am shocked and saddened this morning to learn this terrible news!

Will and I first met in 2003 at TypeCon in Minneapolis. Since then he has become a good friend as well as an esteemed colleague. I remember sitting down to that first beer together and the invigorating, wide-ranging conversation, discovering all our many shared interests.

In addition to our love of type and typography, the history and the craft, Will and I shared an interest in birds and wildlife. We would periodically send reports to each other of the local changes of season -- Will: the flights of snow geese and pelicans up the central flyway or the first kinglet in April; or me: a fallout of spring warblers or a bittern "singing" from a nearby swamp.

Last year he invited me to be on the jury to select book interiors for the AAUP's annual competition. We had a wonderful time talking about books and hanging out in NYC, where the judging took place. Later, in July, at the AAUP annual conference in Montreal, I fondly recall skipping out on the Saturday morning sessions together to spend 4 hours tramping around the Parc du Mont Royal instead, investigating the local birds and enjoying the trails.

I was looking forward to hearing tales of this last month's grand tour around the Rockies and back across the Canadian plains to the cabin in Ontario. Will had confided in me that after his return, he was planning to ease into retirement from the press. He was looking forward to time for personal projects.

This sudden and permanent retirement is not what any of us had in mind. He will be sorely missed.

May he rest in peace.

-- Kent.

My thoughts to Will's family, this is a terrible loss. The New Types booklet (and lecture) is (was) the real deal from the real thing. Minneapolis has lost an original.

My thoughts and prayers to his family.

Sharon

What a shock! This is terribly saddening. Will was a terrific person, knowledgeable, irascible, funny, thoughtful, kind and genuine. We will certainly miss him. His absence will be felt at ATypI, and beyond. Condolences to his family.

John Hudson wrote:

Alas. I can’t remember how long I’ve known Will, but I do remember that in all those years I don’t recall ever having the kind of disagreement that sends me off grumpy. I know I can’t take the credit for that: it’s all down to Will being such a gentleman, so careful in his choice of words, and so knowledgeable about his craft. Vere, requiescat in pace.

Well said. Will's common sense and reasonableness made everything he wrote, here and elsewhere, seem like a refreshing breeze that swept out the nonsense.

He was one of that small number of practitioners who care intensely about the details of book typography. Like so many of those, he came out of the craft of book production, so his design was grounded in the realities of typesetting, printing -- and reading. I will very much miss his side of this ongoing conversation.

Will was looking forward to coming to this year's ATypI conference in Mexico City, a favorite place of his. I was looking forward to seeing him again there.

John

I didn't know Will Powers, but I always treasured his posts as one who loved and had great insight into excellence in book typography. I will miss his presence here.

Everyone will miss his fatherly voice of reason. :(

Sad news indeed. We are sad here in Mexico. Will motivated us to present Forging the Character in Seattle. Nice moments passed with him here in Mexico and Seattle. Light and peace for you Memo Poderes. Will miss you here. thankyou for sharing.

Everyone will miss his fatherly voice of reason. :(

I'll bet Will would snort at being called "fatherly," but his certainly was a voice of reason.

John

I liked his sense of humour, and his perspective on design. I'll miss reading his comments.

This is indeed a huge shock. A good friend with a true love of type and how to make it work. He was so young, as well. Damn.

my condolences to the family as well...
lars

Will's friend and colleague at the MHS Press asked me to post the following on her behalf:

      > From Pam McClanahan, director at the Minnesota Historical Society Press:
      Many thanks for the kind words about Will Powers posted to this list in the last
      days, which have been forwarded to us. Will’s widow, Cheryl Miller, has made
      one request of his colleagues at the MHS Press: if anyone has a memory of him
      that they’d be willing to share, she would love to hear it. If you would like to
      contribute to a small book that we will put together for her, please e-mail it to
      me at pamela[dot]mcclanahan[at]mnhs[dot]org.

In addition, Pam provided a link to the St. Paul Pioneer Press obituary for Will.

-- Kent.

We will miss you, Will.

ChrisL

Today's Minneapolis paper has a wonderful picture and a good write up about Will. What an amazing person! What a great lead to his obit:

http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/56435307.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGD...

Typography, design expert Will Powers

He was widely known for producing beautiful books and for encouraging and supporting his colleagues.

By TIM HARLOW, Star Tribune
Last update: August 31, 2009 - 9:09 PM

Authors and photographers supplied the words and images for their books, and Will Powers made them look good.

I saw the write up in the Star Tribune this morning and was shocked. I was lucky enough to have Will as a typography teacher at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. He was always amazing me with the depth of his knowledge concerning all things typographic. He used to have us all bring books with interesting typography to class to discuss. I used to love talking about those books with Will. He could tell you more about the typography and production of those books than anyone I've ever known. Will was always kind, cordial and respectful. He was a wonderful teacher and he will be missed.

– Karl

Thanks for that link, Kristin. Nice photo of Will -- nicer than the crop they ran in the paper.

A MN friend sent me an image of the obit from the newspaper itself, and it was particularly poignant and bittersweet to have that headline reflected back to me in my own type design, drawn many years ago for the StarTrib.

I wrote:

"I first heard of him when he wrote a column about typography for Advertising Techniques magazine back in the early ’80s. At the time he worked at a typesetting house in Minneapolis."

This is where I first heard of Will, but the rest is highly inaccurate. I forget sometimes how unreliable memory is. (It's probably because it's unreliable that I forget that.)

I was able to find some of the columns Will wrote in my magazine archive. The column was called "Type Direction" and it appeared in Art Direction magazine in the early-mid 1990s. At the time he was Type Director for Campbell Mithun Esty ad agency in Minneapolis.

My apologies for not checking before I posted last week.