Lawrence Herbert

Lawrence Herbert is the chairman and chief executive officer of Pantone, Inc., the world's premiere color standards company and color authority. He has been the creative force behind developing a variety of color systems which have become the standards for global communication of color in the printing, publishing, packaging, graphic arts, paint, plastics, coatings, computer, film, video, textiles and fashion industries. Following military service in Korea during the war, Herbert returned to New York and took what he thought was a temporary job at Pantone, Inc. At the time, Pantone's major business was producing color charts for cosmetics, fashion, industrial and medical firms. Fascinated by the challenge of developing a universal color specification system, Lawrence Herbert abandoned his plans for medical school and set about curing the color ills of industry. Herbert holds a BA degree from Hofstra University and has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the university. In 1996, Hofstra University inaugurated the Lawrence Herbert Distinguished Professorship Chair in his honor.