DAU Visual Arts and Press Director retires: Greg Caruth—a career by design - Inside DAU

Program Manager, May-June, 2003 by Collie J. Johnson

My friend--actually my boss--retired today, June 30, 2003. About 10 years ago Greg Caruth spoke with me after I transferred to DAU's Visual Arts and Press Department as managing editor of PM Magazine. "If all goes well, we'll have a decade of working together on PM," he casually remarked to me that day in his capacity as DAU Visual Arts and Press Director. Somehow, some way, I turned my head for a brief moment and that decade passed.

Greg has been the Visual Arts and Press Director for so many years no one can remember when he wasn't around. When he first reported to the Defense Systems Management School (DSMS) back in 1971 as a young Air Force recruit, no one could have foreseen--especially Greg--that he would stick around for over 33 years.

He was one of the original Air Force cadre assigned to DSMS, and served in a military or civilian capacity over the years under the leadership of all but one of the 15 Defense Systems Management College (DSMC) Commandants, two Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Commandants, and two DAU Presidents. He was an integral part of ensuring the continuity of the DSMS, DSMC, and DAU identity as he watched the transition of DSMS over the years from a school to a college in 1976, and from a consortium college to consolidation as part of the Defense Acquisition University in 2000.

After leaving the Air Force and DSMS, Greg became a civilian in 1975 and worked nearly a year at the Army Logistics Management Center (now College), at Fort Lee, Va., followed by four years at the National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. Returning to the Defense Systems Management School in 1979, which by then had become the Defense Systems Management College, he became the supervisor of DSMC Visual Arts. And in 1995, he became Director of DAU Visual Arts and Press when the University Press and Visual Arts Departments merged.

Greg is best known for his nationally recognized DSMC and DAU exhibits and posters at conferences throughout the Washington, D.C., area, with themes such as Uncle Sam, Leonardo da Vinci, Sun Tzu, Pharaoh, Cave Man, and Star Warrior. He also founded and sculpted the art for the Acker Skill in Communications Award. Other sculptures he created were bronze busts of the late Army Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Scott, first DSMS Commandant; and DSMS founder, the late David Packard, former Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Words to Leave By

Like Greg, I too am nearing the retirement that always loomed in the distant future. It's true. The years do go by "quicker than a weaver's shuttle." And the retirement that seemed so far off now becomes a double-edged sword: freedom from the workplace, but also a reminder of our own mortality and how fleeting the years truly are.

Those of us who worked for Greg and others who have known him well for many years all echo a united sentiment: "Who will they ever get to replace Greg?" Throughout the DAU main campus at Fort Belvoir as well as DAU's five regions, his beautiful art work, sculpture, and carefully selected prints and furnishings brighten our day and inspire us.

Thanks Greg--for a career by design from which we at the Defense Acquisition University all reaped the benefit.

Postscript

Greg will pursue a second career in interior design and furnishings at Simms Furniture in Fredericksburg, Va., where he resides with his wife Rita.