BELATED OBITUARY - MARK C. POPE III, FORMER CHAIRMAN & CEO OF GRAPHIC INDUSTRIES

OBITUARY

Mark C. POPE III

DECEMBER 14, 1924 – MAY 28, 2019

Mark Cooper Pope III passed away on May 28, 2019. He was born in Washington DC on December 14, 1924, to Mark Cooper Pope Jr. and Nancy Braxton Pope. 

Mark was a decorated World War II veteran, a visionary entrepreneur and the founder of Graphics Industries, Inc., the first multi-state consolidator of printing companies in the country.He expanded the company from one Atlanta printer into a New York Stock Exchange listed company ranked among the ten highest volume printing operations in the United States.

After graduating from North Fulton High School, Mark enrolled in the University of North Carolina in September 1941, two months before World War II broke out. Having enlisted in the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps, he was called to active duty and commissioned as a U.S. Navy Ensign in February 1944. He was assigned to the USS Haggard DD-555, a Fletcher class destroyer that took part in some of the largest and most significant battles in the Pacific.

After the war, he resumed his studies at UNC and graduated with a business degree in June 1947. He returned to Atlanta and started several small businesses, including a vending machine operation, frozen food delivery service and a restaurant.

In 1949, he joined Williams Printing Company, a one man printing shop founded in 1922 by his father-in-law, Jesse R. Williams. After the death of Jesse Williams in 1955, Mark became president and for the next decade built the business into a leading Atlanta printing company. In 1968 he organized Graphic Industries, Inc and led its expansion into 25 companies, which at that time was the nation’s largest network of high quality printing companies. For his outstanding contributions to the industry, he was presented the Ben Franklin Award from the Printing Industry of Georgia in 1981 and was elected to the printing Impressions National Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mark was co-author of “Mark Anthony Cooper”, a biography of his great, great grandfather and “Aboard the USS Haggard DD-555in World War II”, an account of his wartime service.

In addition to his executive roles with Graphic Industries, Inc., Mark was a member of the Board of Directors of the Alpharetta Community Bank and the Buckhead Community Bank. He was a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, a founding member of the Buckhead coalition and member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation in Atlanta. He loved the University of North Carolina and enjoyed taking his children and grandchildren to football and basketball games. He was a member of the Peachtree Golf Club, Piedmont Driving Club, Capital City Club, Ocean Forest Club, Cherokee Town and Country Club and Homosassa Fishing Club. He was also a long time coach for Buckhead Baseball.

Mark is predeceased by his first wife and mother of his four children, Betty Williams Pope, his second wife, Elizabeth George Pope and his granddaughter, Lisa Pope Swanson. He is survived by four children, John R. Pope (Nancy), Mark C. Pope IV (Chilton), Patty P. Hatcher (Jim) and Carter D. Pope (Bet), 9 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother Braxton Pope (Donna), sister Jaquelin Adams, two nieces and a nephew.

 

Blog Publisher’s comment:

 

I don’t know how I managed to miss the passing of this awesome gentleman.  I’m very sorry for the very belated notice of his passing.  Mark C Pope, III (affectionately known as MCP3) was the Chairman & CEO of Graphic Industries, one of the world’s largest printing enterprises.

 

MCP3 was a true southern gentleman.  A wonderful, brilliant, inspirational person.  I had the good fortune, and privilege, to meet MCP3 back around 1984.  One of the companies MCP3 owned was Atlanta Blueprint (which in later years was became known as Imaging Technologies.)  I actually met Mark Pope before I met Carter, his son.   When MCP3 sold Graphic Industries to a larger enterprise, that sale did not include Imaging Technologies.  Graphic Industries sold Imaging Technologies to MCP3’s son, Carter Pope.  Carter later sold Imaging Technologies to ARC Document Solutions. 

Dan Stephens is offering lots for sale at Cherokee Estates in NW Georgia

For those of you who know Dan Stephens, the former owner of Georgia Blue Imaging(formerly Georgia Blueprint) (Georgia Blue Imaging was acquired by ARC a number of years ago), please join me in wishing Dan lots of luck and success with Cherokee Estates, his real estate development project in NW Georgia.  (Yes, Dan is in the real estate development business.)

 

Here’s a link to the Cherokee Estates web-site:

 

https://www.cherokeeestatesga.com

 

Promoted as the only gated community in Polk County, GA, Cherokee Estates is located just outside of Cedartown, GA, a lovely small town.  Total of 40 lots.  Buy a lot and have them build a home for you, or hire your own builder. Lot prices begin at less than $30,000. Buy with confidence; the owner of this development, Dan Stephens, is a person of the highest integrity.

 

As an added plus(?), if you become a full-time resident at Cherokee Estates, you will be a resident of Georgia’s 14^thCongressional District….. and your Representative in the U.S. Congress will be none other than (IDI0T) Marjorie Taylor Greene, or, as some refer to her, Congressperson Q’Anon. Makes for interesting dinner conversations.

Top Ten Copier & Imaging Industry Predictions for 2021

LINK TO POST BY MR. ART POST, PUBLISHER OF P4P HOTEL, THE COPIER/PRINTER INDUSTRY’S LEADING BLOG….

https://www.p4photel.com/blog/top-ten-copier-and-imaging-industry-predictions-for-2021

(Note:  I posted my comments on Art's predictions in the comment section on Art's blog)

 

Applied Imaging acquires managed print services company

Links:

 

https://www.p4photel.com/topic/applied-imaging-acquires-managed-print-services-company

 

https://www.appliedimaging.com/about-us

Office Depot rejects takeover offer from Staples

......but OD says it’s open to other types of ventures

PUBLISHED TUE, JAN 19 20218:45 AM EST, UPDATED TUE, JAN 19 202112:30 PM EST

 

Melissa Repko@MELISSA_REPKO

 

KEY POINTS

 

• Office Depot rejected a takeover attempt by office supply rival Staples, according to a letter between company executives.
• In the letter, the chairman of the board for the parent company of Office Depot said they would be open to another deal that draws less scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
• It’s the third attempt by Staples to acquire Office Depot.

Link to article on CNBC:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/19/office-depot-rejects-takeover-offer-from-rival-staples-wsj-reports.html

 

AIA ABI Index for month of November 2020. "

Per the AIA press release....

“Architecture firm billings declined for the ninth consecutive month in November. (2020).  The ABI score of 46.3 for the month indicates that the pace of the billings decline accelerated from October, after moderating in September and October (any score below 50 represents a decline in firm billings). The recent increase in COVID-19 cases over the last several weeks seems to have put a damper on the nascent recovery, and also appears to be reflected in a decline in the value of new design contracts in November, following their first increase since February last month. In addition, while inquiries into new work continued to rise, the pace of that growth slowed substantially from the previous two months. Together, these signs indicate that client interest in new projects has started to wane after more encouraging signs last month."

"Business conditions also remained soft across much of the country in November, with billings weakening most noticeably at firms located in the Northeast, which were also hardest hit earlier in the pandemic. However, architecture firms in the Midwest saw their billings rise slightly for the first time since January. In addition, this month firms with a multifamily residential specialization saw modest growth for the fourth consecutive month, as that sector remains the one bright spot amid the pandemic-induced downturn. But billings continued to decline at both firms with commercial/industrial and institutional specializations, with firms with a commercial/industrial specialization seeing a less dramatic decline, likely due to increased demand for distribution, logistics, data centers, and other industrial facilities recently.”

“However, firms remain modestly optimistic about 2021”

_____________

Blog publisher's comment:  I am extremely concerned that a nine-consecutive-months decline in the AIA ABI Index could reasonably be construed as predicting a “no recovery” situation (i.e., there will be no recovery) for reprographers in 2021, at least with respect to revenues generated from A/E/C reprographics services.

Costco closing all of the photo centers at its stores

From an article on CNN on the Internet, Jan 14, 2021…..

Costco is closing its photo centers at all of its roughly 800 stores next month, ending a number of services that have a decidedly retro vibe.

Four services will no longer be available to shoppers when the centers will shut down on February 14, including ink refills, the ability to take passport photos, photo restoration and a service that transferred home videos from VHS tapes to DVD or USB devices. 

 

However, Costco isn't shutting down its online photo center. Customers can still print photos and access other perks on Costco's website, the company said.

 

Costco (COST) didn't immediately reply to CNN Business about the closures. But a letter obtained by a photo blog reportedly sent from Costco to its customers explained that the "need for printing photos has steeply declined"since the introduction of high-quality cameras on smartphones and social media. 

 

Once a staple at grocery stores and pharmacies, photo centers have become increasingly extinct as more people choose to share their photos online rather than print them out.

 

 

What do you do to replace lost revenues from customers not printing as much to hard-copy as they used to print to hard-copy?