Obituary - Richard F. (Rich) Eastwood, Industry Leader, Past President and Hall of Fame Winner

Richard F. (Rich) Eastwood, Chairman and CEO of The Central Group, Mississauga, Ontario, passed away on Saturday, September 15, in Toronto following a long illness.  He was 81.

Rich Eastwood started his career in the corrugated packaging business as a sales representative for Select Carton Services in Toronto.  In 1980 he purchased Central Box & Container Ltd., a sheet plant in Mississauga.  In 1985, recognizing the growing opportunities provided by fine-flute, or microflute, corrugated, he and his partners started Independent Corrugator, a specialty sheet feeder also located in Mississauga.

Rich was an avid student of the latest equipment and machinery in the industry.  In the early 1980s, at a meeting of the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC), Rich led a workshop discussion on how a sheet plant can justify the acquisition of a flexo-folder gluer, a machine which at the time produced order volumes more common to large, vertically integrated companies than to sheet plants. His research on this workshop later appeared in articles published by Boxboard Containers and Paperboard Packaging, the two leading corrugated industry publications of the day.  His study of equipment led to his interest in high graphics on corrugated and the market opportunities they would bring to the industry.  Through friendships gained through AICC – most notably with Jack Grollman of Triangle Container Corp. in Philadelphia – Rich positioned his company as one of the leading producers of high-quality, flexographic direct printing on combined board.  Central Box & Containers’ growing reputation as a corrugated graphics house led to the company’s rebranding to “Central Graphics & Display,” later to become simply “The Central Group.” Under the leadership of Rich’s son Rick Eastwood, The Central Group has become a premiere provider of point of purchase and marketing services to major consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers in Canada and the US.

A visionary industry leader, Rich was an active member of AICC Canada, AICC International, and the Canadian Corrugated Case Association (CCCA), now called the Canadian Corrugated & Containerboard Association.  He served on the Board of Directors of CCCA from 1985-2004. He also served on the Board of AICC Canada and as Regional Vice President for AICC International, representing AICC Canada from 1986 to 1989. In 1989 he became a member of AICC’s Executive Committee and in 1993-1994 he served as President of AICC International.  Recognizing his contributions to the independent sector of the North American and world corrugated industry, AICC in 1998 named him a recipient of the AICC Hall of Fame award.

During his tenure on AICC’s Board of Directors, he served as chairman of the Association’s Educational Development Committee, the Convention Content Committee and Packaging Design Committee, among other leadership posts.  He and fellow Board member Bill Flinn of Scope Packaging founded the Association’s “Sons of Bosses” group to foster future succession for AICC’s family businesses.  “Sons of Bosses” is now named “Emerging Leaders.” He and Flinn also advocated for a North American corrugated machinery show, and from those efforts the industry now has SuperCorrExpo, a quadrennial show jointly owned by TAPPI and AICC.  He was also a founding Board member of the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF), and in 1999 he was instrumental in chartering the Canadian arm of the Foundation.  He was a longtime supporter of the packaging education programs at Humber College and Mohawk College, the two principal schools in Ontario offering packaging-related education. He was also a longtime member of member of the Rotary Club Canada.

He is survived by his wife Beverley, son Rick (Andrea) Eastwood, daughter Barb (Kevin) Spears, four grandchildren, a sister and a brother. He enjoyed spending time in Muskoka, golfing, fishing, tennis and gardening; he skied until he was 80. He enjoyed cheering on his teams: the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays and Argonauts as well as every Canadian athlete. Richard and Beverley enjoyed travelling, meeting lifelong friends in Europe, Great Britain, Caribbean and Australia.  They wintered every year in Palm Desert, Calif., with great friends and working on educational programs at Indian Ridge.

Memoral contributions may be made in Rich’s name to Sunnybrook Hospital-Odette Cancer Centre, https://donate.sunnybrook.ca/tribute, or mail to Sunnybrook Foundation, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Suite KGW-01, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3MS CANADA.  Expressions of sympathy for Beverly Eastwood, Rick Eastwood and Barb Eastwood Spears may be sent c/o The Central Group, 5526 Timberlea Blvd., Mississauga, Ontario L4W 2T7 CANADA.