On May 1, and as a first step toward retirement, Bill Kipp resigned from his Technical Director position at ISTA. He’s planning to keep his consulting company active on a limited basis, and may participate in some ISTA events in the future, but effective immediately all ISTA technical matters and questions should be directed to Meredith Dougherty at meredith@ista.org, 517-333-3437, extension 217.

Bill Kipp is a long-recognized face and name in the packaging industry. In 1971, he was one of the founders of Lansmont Corporation. Before that he designed control and instrumentation systems, tested instructional computers for IBM, and worked with measurements and data systems in the aerospace industry. Bill has a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and got involved with packaging when he worked with electrical and electronic systems for package testing machines. He designed all of the early Lansmont electronics, and later managed the design team for Lansmont’s first field data recorder. But the packaging application itself – particularly testing and dynamics – captured the majority of his interest and attention.
A more complete biography can be found on the ISTA website by clicking here.

In an effort to give Bill a fun and entertaining send-off, he suggested a “roast”. Of course I loved the idea – any day we get permission to make fun of Bill is a good day! I contacted several people who have known him and worked with him for many years. Collectively, I think the people in that group have something like 400 years of service to the industry…and roughly 120 of them are from Bill himself.

One thing I’ve learned about Bill in the process of collecting these stories for this roast is that he rarely portrays himself as a “funny guy”. He’s funny, don’t get me wrong, but that sense of humor is so dry that there are times when I had to ask myself whether he was joking or being serious. When I asked people for submissions, I was expecting something funny or crazy from his younger days (he had to have younger days, right?). What I got were jokes poking fun at his physical characteristics, but also an underlying and very high level of respect that people have for him and his contributions to our industry.

Words of thanks for his service to ISTA will never be enough to show him how much value he has had to this organization. If you would like to contribute a funny story about Bill, please send me an email at meredith@ista.org. We’ll gather those and publish them for everyone to enjoy. If you would like to contact Bill directly to make fun of him, or to just say thanks, send him an email: wikipp@comcast.net.

Here are a few:

Kevin Howard:
Bill’s depth and breadth of knowledge, combined with his fun disposition, makes for a combination that few people can offer. I consider Bill not only a mentor in packaging and testing, but one of the special friends lucky people may stumble upon while trying to learn their profession.

Lejo Braña:
And who is going to replace you at ISTA, at forums and workshops around the world? And who I call when I need explanations and answers as to why a certain procedure is used? And who can teach your favorite subjects on transport packaging and testing in the mean time? And who do I call when I need to upgrade my 1800-5 vibration control system that you designed 20 years or so ago? And who will continue to follow your footsteps with the pioneering desire like when you started to really make transport packaging a "science and engineering" discipline like where it is today.

Ed Church:
Oh where Oh where do you start with “Two Can Kipp”? I met Bill in 1968 when I graduated from MSU and was offered a job at Monterey Research. Bill was impressive; he drove a corvette after all. A few years later we got together to form Lansmont. Those long days and nights working on an adding machine doing and redoing a business plan, oh for Excel in those days, were ultimately worth it. The Lansmont years were hectic, but fun with many great stories like the dying pigeon and Executive Darts. Bill has for many many years been very jealous of my white hair, well I guess you can say just jealous of my hair altogether. And of course there is always the running joke between Dennis Young and Bill about Bill being short. I think anyone who knows Bill at all admires his brilliance, his dry sense of humor and his extremely friendly nature. These past many years at ISTA, Bill has contributed so much to the success of the association, it’s no wonder everyone wonders how we can go on without him. It will never be the same, because some people just can’t be replaced, but ISTA will continue to move forward. Bill has always been a colleague, a partner and a best friend. The good news is that our friendship will never end.

Eric Joneson:
Have I laughed with Mr. Kipp? You bet, and then some. Have I laughed at Mr. Kipp? Not that often that I can remember, such that I can really make light of it in an effort to roast the guy... I met Bill twenty-one years ago, when he was part of a team that interviewed me for my first job right out of college. Bill was a personal mentor and he is forever a role model, whether he likes it or not. I’m sure I’m not alone in making that claim. He’s an icon of credibility within our industry and his interest was always to “do the right thing.” I’ve attended many conferences and listened to many technical presentations where Bill was also present. If and when I questioned the validity of some data, analysis or summary that was presented, I wouldn’t even wait to ask Bill about it afterwards. Instead I would simply glance his way, wherever he may be sitting, and try judge his reaction. Did he buy it, alternatively is he questioning it?? Depending on how I gauged that reaction determined my overall frame of reference from that point forward. That was the case 20 years ago and it’s still the case today. Those of us that attend conferences with Bill know that when presentations are complete and we go to break, people congregate towards Bill for that very same reason…”so Bill, what did you think?” I think that’s pretty cool, I think it’s pretty impressive, and I think that universal respect is well deserved. So much of what defines Bill is work, work, work, above and beyond expectation… Yet I have also been lucky enough to know Bill, his wonderful wife Norma and his daughter Lori, who have both been part of the Kipp package that have participated in so many of Bill’s professional activities. Bill also has a son Kenny and granddaughter Emily, who I unfortunately know less than the others, yet feel quite familiar with as Bill speaks often and proudly of them both. I may be wrong but I think for Bill, there are two things in life, family and work. Bill’s blessed with a wonderful family and I’ve enjoyed having had the opportunity to share time with them over the years. Believe it or not there are times when you don’t have to talk about PSD, confidence levels, or spring mass systems with the guy… How many of you can say you’ve seen the guy screaming across a lake on a jet-ski doing 50 mph? I can, and it was pretty cool (of course he was probably trying to calculate the vibration spectrum of a watercraft while he was doing it). He’ll still be around and no doubt we’ll still get his opinion from time to time. For me personally his influence will remain significant and ever-present. The question will always be…”well what would Bill say?” To Bill, I express the most sincere thank you for all you’ve done; done for all of us. A small man leaving a very big mark…for that we are ever-indebted.

Dennis Young:
Bill Kipp has been lucky enough to know me for over 40 years, from his days at Monterey Research Labs, through the Lansmont and then the ISTA times. He has put his mark on a wide variety of products, technologies and procedures that make a significant difference to the packaging discipline. During all that time, one thing has remained steadfast, constant and unchanging; Bill is very short. Bill always makes light – er – heavy of my weight. Over the years my weight has gone up and down, but Bill hasn’t gained a single inch of height. My guess is that he is permanently short. Bill has been widely recognized for his many accomplishments in packaging and related disciplines, such as Certified Packaging Professional and the LeButt Award. What most do not know is that Bill has won a number for recognitions that do not get so widely publicized. For example, in1976 Bill was recognized by the Society of Honorable and Obliging Research Technicians (S.H.O.R.T.). He was noted as being outstanding in his field, however no one noticed since, well, the weeds in the field were quite high and so – well, you get the picture. Bill is and always has been a huge baseball fan. Little known is that he once played minor league ball for the Bay Area Bantams. He played, of course, short stop. His promising career was cut short one day when he misjudged a ground ball and it hit him off a short hop. He was never quite the same and only played occasionally, in short left field, for the remainder of that year before retiring. Some have called Bill “vertically challenged” but he rejects that label. He prefers to be thought of as short – significantly, remarkably, painfully short. Bill’s favorite fruit is strawberries and he especially likes them with shortcake. Bill’s least favorite sport is basketball, and his second favorite, after baseball, is horse racing. With Bill’s retirement, we will all be left with the short end of the stick and he’ll never be replaced by the shortsighted people who may come later. So let’s ignore any shortcomings and not have short memories about good guys like Bill. Let’s always remember that famous quote from English brewer Charles Buxton, “To make pleasures pleasant, shorten them.”

Meredith Dougherty:
I first met Bill Kipp when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old. Personally, I don’t remember that first meeting and I’m surprised when I hear him say he does – I mean, the guy is old and our early times together don’t bode well for him remembering anything. Back then I was quite the expert at the game of “Memory” – the game that had you pick two cards, hoping for a match; if you didn’t match them you had to remember where they were in case you found a match later. I was the Queen of Memory. Bill and I would play for bananas and to this day I have an overabundance of potassium in my system after completing dominating our games. I don’t let him forget those games, and I will take the credit for any memory he has managed to hold onto to this day.