James L. Wassell

James L. Wassell (born September 24, 1913 in Springfield , Illinois , United States , † May 29, 2008 there ) was an American photo and computer technician and Oscar winner.

Life

Wassell attended Springfield High and Junior College in his hometown, where he showed his great enthusiasm for all photographic issues when he founded the Springfield Camera Club in 1936. His professional career ranged from a lecturer in Ansco color film processing to marketing director for Bell & Howell Professional Products . He then served as general manager of the Hollywood Film Co. and as vice president. Wassell lived and worked in Hollywood between 1942 and 1978. In the latter year, he returned to his roots and took over the micrographic department in the Secretary of States Office. Wassell has written and lectured on photographic matters and was a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

In 1963, he and his Bell-and-Howell colleagues Albert S. Pratt and Hans Christoph Wohlrab were awarded the title of “design and development of a new and improved automatic film additive color printer”, as the reason stated, with a technical Oscar recorded and received a special award from the Association for Information and Image Management. In 1986, James L. Wassell founded the Midwest States Micrographics Conference. He is particularly important in the preservation of microfilms, and an article on so-called redox control earned him the Writer of the Year Award from AIIM Magazine in 1990. At the end of 1994 Wassell retired from active professional life and, now a pensioner, began to be interested in computer things. In this area he has been teaching as a volunteer. Shortly before his death, an extensive, cataloged collection of his early photographic work was placed in the archives of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

James L. Wassell was married to the same woman for 65 years from 1942 until her death in 2007.

Web links

• Obituary on legacy.com