1985 Deane Richardson, FIDSA (b. 1930)
At its first WORLDESIGN conference in Washington, DC, attracting over 2300 attendees from around the world, IDSA honored the Chair of this most successful conference, Mr. Richardson, with its highest honor. Deane W. Richardson, Chairman Emeritus and Co-founder of RichardsonSmith and Fitch Inc. has spent more than 40 years integrating research, design and development disciplines to solved tactical and strategic design problems for corporations worldwide.

In 1956 Mr. Richardson graduated from Pratt Institute with a degree in industrial design. In 1960 Mr. Richardson and fellow Pratt graduate, David Smith, began RichardsonSmith, a consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio. Over the years, RS grew into a worldwide position with locations in Asia, Europe and the U.S. In 1990 RS merged with Fitch, a successful retail design firm in London which became Fitch RichardsonSmith and in 1998 it became Fitch.

The firm offered a broad range of design skills from product development that includes industrial design and engineering, the design of communications and brand positioning, product launch programs and corporate identity programs and the design of retail environments. Notable companies such as Chrysler, Disney, Nissan, Hitachi, Xerox, Microsoft, Nokia, and Universal Studios are among a long list of clients. As co-founder, Mr. Richardson built his career on the management and planning of design processes within large and small companies. Fitch became a leader in the successful integration of design disciplines with experts in research, marketing and production.

In addition to his work within Fitch, Mr. Richardson has been active in the global design community. In 1985, he chaired the Worldesign ICSID Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest international assembly of designers in the U.S. In 1989, he chaired a session at the Nagoya ICSID Congress. He served ICSID as Board member and President over a period of 8 years representing global interests of Industrial Design from more than 50 countries and 100 design societies. He is a part of the planning group for the 2007 ICSID Congress to be held in San Francisco.

Throughout the 1990's he focused on the Pacific Rim countries developing a knowledge base for Fitch's participation in this region during the 21st century. This led to 10-year relationships with LG (Goldstar) in Korea, Mitsubishi, Nissan and an office in Osaka to support the 15-year relationship with Duskin, a 5 billion dollar service corporation.

His retirement as of January 2001 was celebrated with the award of an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Today, he sails his 38', 55 year old wood racing sloop from his home in Castine, Maine in the summers and the winters at Safety Harbor Club on the barrier Island of North Captiva near Ft. Myers, Florida. In between he is in Columbus taking care of real estate interests, enjoying good health and a continued relationship with Fitch designers and challenges faced by designers today.

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