IDSA mourns the loss of Paul B. Specht, FIDSA, a leader in the world of industrial design, who passed away on November 8, 2023.
Functioning in the dual roles of both senior designer and administrator throughout his 50+ year career, Paul was involved with a wide variety of design activities embracing product planning and strategy, product design, technical development, packaging, production implementation, research, and general design counsel to industry and governments.
Recognized for his outstanding contributions, Specht received numerous awards for design innovation and engineering excellence. His legacy boasts an impressive portfolio of over 50 utility and design patents across a wide spectrum of fields, from microsurgery to heavy industrial equipment.
Paul’s career journey commenced with an Army Specialized Training Program in 1942-1943, followed by service in World War II with the 14th Armored Division in the European Theater of Operations 1943-1945. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1950 and established his own office, PBS Design, in Chicago, from 1949 to 1952. He worked with Russel Wright Associates in New York City as a staff designer from 1952 until 1953, when he joined Dave Chapman Inc. in Chicago as executive vice-president. In 1970 he was named as president and partner in the firm as it became known as Goldsmith Yamasaki Specht, Inc. (GYS), a position he held until 1996, when he became the last remaining original partner.
In 1997, GYS was purchased by Sundberg-Ferar, and in 1998, Specht established and became principal of PBSDESIGN, INC in Wilmette, Ill., and served as senior design counsel for Sundberg-Ferar until 2000.
A trailblazer in the field, Specht’s influence extended beyond his professional endeavors. He was a design educator at the Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Chicago School of Business, and Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering.
Throughout his career, Specht remained an active and dedicated member of IDSA. Since 1953, Specht served as Chicago Chapter Chair from 1960-1962 and 1968-1970; national executive vice president from 1979-1980; and national director at large from 1980 to 1981. He was awarded IDSA Fellowship in 1975.
Paul’s contributions leave an enduring mark on the field of industrial design, remembered by the IDSA community and beyond.
Reflecting on Paul Specht’s passing, Brian J. Wynne, IDSA’s former Executive Director from 1977-1988, recalls Specht’s profound impact during a challenging period within the organization.
“The passing of Paul Specht saddened me greatly, but brought to mind all of the joy and wisdom which he brought to IDSA during my time as Executive Director.
Paul was Executive Vice President of IDSA during a difficult time in the late 1970s. There were great schisms within the organization – geographical; by practice; and historical – with enmities still lingering from the 1966 merger. Failure to hold a timely national election in 1976, illegal Bylaws and appointment to the Board of Directors of people who were not even members of the Society left it in governance chaos. The loser by one vote in an IDSA national election was later censured by the Board for Directors for spreading false rumors and actively seeking to undermine the Society. He would later be elected President of the organization. Trust and mutual respect were at a premium.
Paul cared not a whit for the political pettifoggery within the Society. Paul Specht’s concerns as Executive Vice President were always first and foremost what was good for the membership and what would further the industrial design profession. He brought to every committee and Board meeting a calmness and elegance which eased tensions. His insights and wisdom were always welcome, and he used what some used to call a “golden voice” to mesmerize. He was always the voice of reason.
Given that presence which Paul brought to every meeting, he was, nevertheless, in a lot of ways just a kid at heart who just loved to talk about design, and who would often bring some recently design product to Executive meetings for others to look at. Show and tell at IDSA! With his wife, Arlene, it is hard to imagine a more fun and engaging couple – IDSA’s version of Nick and Nora Charles! Arlene would always pack in his leather briefcase a small jar of peanut butter and some crackers. Once they were the only items in his briefcase.
Paul and I served together for two years as IDSA’s representatives to the Interdisciplinary Council of Environmental Design (ICED). This was a group composed of the chief staff executive and an elected officer from each of the national design societies in architecture, engineering, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture. We met in Washington, D.C. twice per year to share what each society was doing and to find areas of common interest where the design organizations could work together. Beyond Paul’s usual insights at ICED, while sitting next to him I would be particularly fascinated by his doodles! He was without a doubt the most creative doodler I’ve ever seen with a particular penchant for reptilian monsters which would have frightened the creature in “Alien.”
He was a renaissance man in so many ways. Many didn’t know that he piloted his own plane, and he was knowledgable in so many different fields. To be in his company was always a treat. As I wrote above, it was impossible to not be with Paul and Arlene and smile. He will be missed.”
Jan Ronald Boles of Sunny Slope, Idaho, shares a personal reminiscences of Paul B. Specht and the bond between the Specht brothers.
“Paul would visit his brother, the late Franklin Carl Specht, a college professor of history in Caldwell, Idaho. Franklin was my next-door neighbor for 30+ years. I first met Paul in the 1970s.
During those visits, the combined energy of the brothers was indescribable. Wit, brilliance, irreverence: it seemed limitless. I help administer a scholarship established by Franklin.”
Please reach out to [email protected] if you have any anecdotes about Paul and his professional or personal impact.