Honouring Patron Saint of Workers
Gaetano Gagliano, born, Cattolica Eraclea, Agrigento, Sicily, 1917, is the son of a God-fearing family believing in one very important credo: family is the foundation upon which a future is built. In 1928, and at the urging of his mother, 11-year-old Gaetano travelled to Alba, in the Piedmont, to learn the printing trade. His promising career, however, had to take a back seat, as sickness, impending war, and family needs forced him to return to the family farm where, 1945, he married Guiseppina, not quite 16 years of age. Together they farmed and started a family. Because postwar Sicilians faced growing communism, Gaetano and his wife decided, in the best interests of their young family, to immigrate to Canada. Four days after landing, Toronto, 1954, their fifth child was born. Capitalizing on his earlier years of training to be a printer, Gaetano began working for a small printing company. By 1956, however, he was on his own, buying a printing press, and running his own business from the basement of his house. Thirty-five years later, Gaetano’s small printing company has grown into a 23,000 square metre printing house located north of Toronto in the City of Vaughan. Today, St. Joseph Corporation, named for the patron saint of workers, is a multipurpose, highly integrated printing house with state-of-the-art facilities second to none in Canada. A number of the ten Gagliano children are a part of the family business as are some in-laws and a few grandchildren. One of Canada’s most successful business stories, St. Joseph Corporation, with over 1,400 employees, is much more than the story of a God-fearing, visionary immigrant whose hard work has made the company he founded, 1956, one of the most productive all-Canadian printing companies. It is also the story of an immigrant man who never forgot the principle that family is the foundation upon which one builds success. In 1998, Gaetano Gagliano received the Order of Canada, the highest honour bestowed upon Canadian citizens by their government. In this family portrait, Gaetano and Guiseppina proudly sit surrounded by their 10 children, four of whom were born in Sicily, six of whom were born in Canada. Tony Gagliano, standing back row, middle, is Executive Chairman and CEO. [Photo, courtesy St. Joseph Corporation]