Jerry Swormstedt, the former third-generation chairman of the board and president of ST Media Group Intl., the parent company of Screen Printing magazine, died April 4, the day before Easter, after having suffered a massive heart attack on Good Friday, April 3. Jerry was the 1994 recipient of the sign industry’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award (now known as the Kirk Brimley Distinguished Service award), presented by the National Electric Sign Association (now the International Sign Association).
Jerry Swormstedt, the former third-generation chairman of the board and president of ST Media Group Intl., the parent company of Screen Printing magazine, died April 4, the day before Easter, after having suffered a massive heart attack on Good Friday, April 3. Jerry was the 1994 recipient of the sign industry’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award (now known as the Kirk Brimley Distinguished Service award), presented by the National Electric Sign Association (now the International Sign Association). He was also active in numerous committees for the Screen Process Printing Association (later the Screen Printing Association International and now the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association). Jerry was 80.
A 1956 graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism, Swormstedt first worked in the circulation department of the then ST Publications. He then served two years in the U. S. Army as a field artillery officer. Jerry then joined ST Publications in 1959 as an assistant editor on Signs of the Times magazine. In 1970, he became editorial director for Signs of the Times, Screen Printing and Display World (now VMSD) magazine. In 1979, he became the publisher of Signs of the Times. In 1992, following the retirement of his older brother, the late Dave Reid Swormstedt Jr., Jerry became the president of ST Publications. When Jerry’s son Tedd was named president in 1999 (he continues in that role today), Jerry became chairman of the board, a role in which he served until he retired in 2005.
From 1970 to 1994, Jerry served as a judge in the National Electric Sign Association’s annual sign-design contest more than a dozen times. At the local level, he served as the group treasurer for the former Sign Contractors of Greater Cincinnati association.
Details about arrangements have not yet been finalized.