We lost a founder and a giant in the barcode industry. On Tuesday, January 28, Paul Bergé died suddenly and unexpectedly. Known to many in barcoding, most recently Paul served as the President of Axicon Auto ID LLC, managing Axicon distributors in the Americas. Paul started in the Automatic Identification business in 1975, with Plessey Company, a European pioneer in barcoding systems.
Paul joined Symbol Technologies Corporation, and was one of the first generation of employees. In his 14 years with Symbol, he served in several key capacities. He was Vice President of International Marketing and Managing Director of Symbol Technologies International, headquartered in Brussels.
He was instrumental in developing Symbol’s international business in Europe, Latin America, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Rim. Paul was the founding chairman of Scan Tech Europe and AIM Europe in 1984, and received the prestigious Richard Dilling Award in 1989, the highest recognition by peers in the automatic identification industry.
Invited by the United Nations in 1988, Paul lectured on barcoding to Chinese business leaders, in support of UN efforts to help China improve their packaging quality for the global supply chain.
Prior to joining Axicon, Paul served as Vice President of Business Development at Flextronics International. He was Vice President of International Operations at Paxar/Monarch, now part of Avery Dennison.
Paul was truly a lion in the barcode industry, known to many and beloved by all. Elisabeth, his dear wife of many years, lovingly referred to Paul as her “golden bear.” An apt nickname for a man with a commanding presence, well over 6 feet tall. Those who heard him speak were instantly drawn into his delightful and somewhat mysterious (to Americans at least) accent. Paul was born in the Netherlands, and spoke Dutch, English, French and German fluently. He was a good friend to many, and I count myself as particularly fortunate to have worked closely with him these last ten years.
Fare
well and Godspeed, Paul.
