Time-and-temperature sign inventor dies at 80

By The Associated Press

	Luke Williams
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Mr. Williams was 80 and had suffered a series of strokes, Lucy Williams said.

"It was a peaceful death," she told The Associated Press. "I was at his bedside for three nights."

Mr. Williams and his late brother Chuck invented the time-temperature sign in 1950. The first was placed on a Seattle-First National Bank building in downtown Spokane.

They formed American Sign and Indicator in 1951. By 1980, sales had reached $46 million, and they made the giant scoreboard for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

He sold his company to the Brae Corp. of San Francisco in 1983.

He was born in Pinecroft, Spokane County, and graduated from Central Valley High School in the eastern suburbs of Spokane. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942.

Mr. Williams was involved in Republican politics, supporting such presidential candidates as Barry Goldwater and George H.W. Bush. He attended Bush's inauguration in 1988.

He was chairman of the Association of Washington Business and later became chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers.

"Even though he rubbed elbows with some of the nation's most powerful business leaders, like GE's Jack Welch and presidents like Ronald Reagan and George Bush, he never lost his perspective," said Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business. "I can't remember a soul saying an unkind or unflattering word about him."

Mr. Williams is survived by his wife and two children.

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