Perkins, F. Warren, Esq, 1930- : F. Warren Perkins was born in Ottawa in 1930. Educated in the public school system and attended and graduated from Ottawa Technical High School specializing in Commercial Art and Printing. He was introduced to the hand crafting of engraving "lino - blocks" for printing and created a number of subjects for the school's year books. Encouraged by his teachers, application for employment was made to the Royal Canadian Mint and two bank note companies located in the city. He accepted the employment with the British American Bank Note and worked for over a year as a porter in the plant with exposure to most of the printing and finishing processes of security documents. The Canadian Bank Note offered an apprenticeship in the Engraving Department to be trained as a siderographer (steel plate transfer engraver) and commenced his apprenticeship on January 2nd 1951. He was fortunate to have been tutored by Walter J. Bauer, a Master Siderographer.
His apprenticeship was accelerated due to the shortage of trained siderographers at the time and was exposed to all areas of the craft in the preparation of engraved steel dies, transfer rolls, and steel printing plates for the intaglio printing of bank notes, postage stamps, coupon and registered bonds, travellers cheques and other security documents. In the late 1960s and 1970s, he worked for periods of time in New York on loan to the American Bank Note Company at the Bronx Plant and as well made printing plates for the Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company, of New Malden, England. He took an active part in the International Association of Siderographers (ISA) which was a craft union association with members in the various bank note companies located in Ottawa, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bureau of Engraving in Washington serving as its International President of a period of time.
In the late 1970s, advancing technology replaced the need for steel printing plates and siderographers and because of his knowledge of security printing, he was moved into "management", first as technical support for the sales representatives, then into industrial relations advancing to the position of Director of Industrial Relations and dealing with the thirteen unions within the Company. His responsibilities were extended to include Origination Co-ordinator in solving the problems of pre-press employees working more closely together and sharing certain new technology and equipment. Following the hiring of a person to take over the industrial relations responsibilities, he was appointed Senior Director - Special Projects in which he remained until his retirement in late 1996 after over 45 years of continuous employment with the Company.
