Bold new ideas are brought into reality by leaders who are not afraid of challenge. So it is in the brand- new world of technology created by St. Joseph Printing Ltd.

Founder Gaetano Gagliano arrived from Italy with his wife and five children in 1954. Armed with a working knowledge of the printing business, he purchased a small letterpress in 1956 and set up shop in the basement of the family home in Toronto. A religious man, Gagliano named his company St. Joseph Printing after the patron saint of Canada.

When Gagliano purchased the house next door to accommodate new presses, this was only the beginning of a pattern of expansion that has continued over the decades. His one-man cottage industry has grown into a thriving, family enterprise that today employs over 200 people, with annual sales over $40 million.

In the 1960s a boom in business in the burgeoning Italian community spurred a move to a warehouse near Dufferin St. and St. Clair Ave. The steady growth of St. Joseph was matched by that of the Gagliano family itself, as five new members were added.

In 1967 Mr. Gagliano purchased an offset printing company to provide a broader base of services. Three years later both operations were consolidated under one roof in Toronto’s west end.

When multicolour perfecting presses were introduced in the 1980s, St. Joseph was in the forefront of the new technology, and later pioneered the introduction of roll-fed, six-colour perfecting presses. The latest breakthrough is the addition of a nine-unit high-speed heatset press Mitsubishi L-1100, the world’s fastest and the first one of its kind in Canada. It is housed in the new 232,000 square foot facility, the largest commercial printing facility in the country.
 

Gaetano Gagliano, Chariman and Founder of St. Joseph Printing, first-ever recipient of  "Financial Post Environment Awards for Business" (Pollution Abatement) (Photo: Yousuf Karsh)

St. Joseph has also provided industry leadership in environmental responsibility. The plant’s thermal incineration pollution abatement system is the most efficient available anywhere. Machine oil recovery, silver recovery, paper and ink recycling, and many other energy conservation measures are in effect. An Environmental Advisory Board set up by St. Joseph makes recommendations, which are in turn relayed to the Canadian Printing Industries Association.

The company began an Elementary School Earth Day Mural Program in 1990 to encourage environmental awareness among our youth, and in 1991 this was expanded and sponsored by CPIA (Canadian Printers Industry Association).

The demand for high-grade recycled stock is a growing concern worldwide. Early in 1989 St. Joseph Printing tested and successfully introduced an 80 lb. coated paper using recycled fibre suitable for heatset production. A growing number of environmentally aware St. Joseph Printing clients are now specifying recycled stock.

St. Joseph has gone beyond paper recycling to conserve our forest resources. Since 1989 in a program called “Partners in Growth” it has donated, to date, more than $70,000 to Scouts Canada for over 70,000 trees planted. As business grows so does the contribution. clients—manufacturers, graphics companies, advertising agencies, and others—appreciate this environmental responsibility.

Recent years have seen Gaetano Gagliano, now Chairman, having passed the reins of management over to his children, assume an important consulting role with the company. The legacy of his work ethic, along with the company’s keeping abreast of technology in each new generation, has made St. Joseph Printing the fastest growing printing company in Canada today. St. Joseph Printing continues to meet the challenge of a better, cleaner world with a resourceful spirit and great sense of pride in its accomplishments.