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Bernice Willens Heyman, class of 1952 (Advertising and Product Design),
became the first in her family to graduate from college. She moved to
New York and worked in commercial art, designing greeting cards, fabric,
newspaper ads, and painting faces on dolls. In the 1970s she earned
her master’s in Art Education from Lehman College and would work
for the Hendrick Hudson School District in Ossining, New York for over
25 years. Her artwork would also be displayed in galleries around New
York throughout her life. Heyman was a co-creator of the 1960s Wonder
Bread campaign while employed at Ted Bates, the advertising agency
responsible for the “Helps Build Strong Bodies 12 Ways” campaign,
which referred to the inclusion of 12 vitamins and minerals to make
the bread “healthier.”
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Robert Gersin, class of 1951 (Teacher Education) created award-winning
designs for AT&T, Citibank, Corning Glass, General Electric, Timex,
and the Xerox Corporation, among others. In 1984, his firm conceived
and executed the design and communication system in use by Sears
Roebuck, including the ubiquitous Sears logo. A former powerhouse
legacy retail brand in the United States, the Sears’ logo is easily
recognizable to this day.
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Jim Warner, class of 1984 (Industrial Design), helped design packaging for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including the Lay’s Stax potato chip container and Pepsi products, such as the Aquafina water bottle. Other recognizable packages he helped design are Doritos, Fritos, Coffee-Mate, Glad-Ware, a Crest Complete Toothbrush, a Thermos insulated mug for Target, Nestle Coffee-Mate and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.
Warner holds over 130 patents, and he has increasingly focused on
eco-friendly design. Between 2011 and 2022, he developed and patented
Paper Bottle 360, a sustainable packaging solution. He has earned
numerous global innovation and environmental awards.
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Pamela Parisi, class of 1967 (Graphic Design) found success as Director
of Global Design at Gillette Procter & Gamble. During her 30 years at the
company, she oversaw the product packaging development of the Gillette
Mach 3 and Venus Razors in the 2010s, among many other products.
Following her retirement from Gillette, Parisi served on MassArt’s Board
of Trustees from 2012 to 2022.
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William (Bill) Hannon, class of 1956 (Advertising and Product Design),
returned to MassArt to serve as a faculty member in Industrial and
Graphic Design in 1976. He also served as Chair of the Environmental
Design Department and Vice President of External Affairs for the
college. While at MassArt, Bill founded the Design Management
Institute (DMI) in 1975, a global non-profit dedicated to connecting,
promoting and elevating the role of design in business, culture and
society. Hannon had an illustrious career as an industrial designer
working on medical equipment, logos, corporate identities and, most
famously, the Polaroid Big Shot Camera in 1971. This popular camera
was used by iconic visual artist Andy Warhol, who appreciated its ability
to instantly capture the close-up images that the artist used to make
his famous silkscreen portraits.