Remembering Mike Bruno

Feb 1, 2005 12:00 AM, By Katherine O'Brien

From the Editor’s Desk

You might not have known Mike Bruno personally, but we all owe him a debt of gratitude for the role he played in establishing the modern U.S. printing industry. Bruno passed away in January at the age of 93. In recent years, he was probably best known as the long-time editor of "Pocket Pal," International Paper’s 70-year-old graphic-arts guidebook.

We recently featured some readers’ comments about how they’ve used this book. (See ‘Pocket Pal’s’ Enduring Legacy, January 2005.) "Thanks to your article, I know who is responsible for this great tool," says Toby Hoyt, senior sales representative, Phoenix Printing (Oshkosh, WI). "I never thought about it before."

Hoyt adds that "Pocket Pal" has helped him teach print students and 14 apprentices. "It also has assisted me with those once-a-year special jobs, problems and head-scratchers."

Passionate about printing
But Bruno’s work extended far beyond one book. "Mike was a kind and gentle man who was passionate about printing and the people who produce it," says Frank Romano, professor emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology. "He gave me his library and almost all the awards he had won, hundreds of them. But the one memorial that is greater than all of them is the American printing industry in the 20th century. He can take credit for having helped to create and nurture it."

Bruno graduated from Yale in 1927. Intrigued by an article in Inland Printer (predecessor to American Printer) on collotype printing, he joined a Connecticut-based gravure printer. Following his Army service in World War II, he joined the fledgling Lithographic Technical Foundation (LTF), which would become the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (Sewickley, PA). After a distinguished career at LTF, he took a senior position with International Paper and introduced the "What New(s) in Graphic Communications" newsletter, which he published for more than 40 years.

In 1948, Bruno was part of a small group of industry professionals that created Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA) (Rochester, NY), a global research organization.

With Frank Preucil and others, Bruno established the research methodology and knowledge base for the printing industry and pioneered many of the technological innovations that made lithographic printing a viable process.

He retired from International Paper in the late 1970s and traveled the world as a printing technology consultant. He was one of the first Americans allowed to lecture in (then) Communist China. His annual "Status of Printing in the U.S." was presented at international conferences for more than 50 years. He was active well into his late 80s, publishing and speaking about printing. He attended every Drupa from the inaugural 1951 event until 2000.

A patient teacher
In 1967, Bruno hired Ray Prince to join him at GATF as his assistant. "During my first week, I noticed several things," recalls Prince, now a senior technical consultant. "He treated everyone with respect, he had a photographic memory for addresses and phone numbers and he had a vast knowledge of print. Mike seemed to know everyone at trade shows and industry gatherings—but ‘seemed’ is the wrong word—he actually did know everyone."

Prince says Bruno was an excellent communicator and a patient teacher. "At every gathering, Mike always brought something to share and was a willing provider of information. To really excite him, I would try to find a new technology and then ask him about it. If I stumped him, my next project was to do a white paper on that subject. I soon learned that I should find another way to excite him. ..."

Bruno truly loved printing and everyone associated with it. As he told Romano several years ago: "Printing was my vocation for all my working life. Ninety years of my life were spent in the 20th century. I had the good fortune of being where the action was during the most active period since printing was invented."

But more than printing, Bruno loved his wife, Gilda. One was seldom seen without the other. So it is particularly fitting that the Bruno family has established a scholarship bearing both their names. Donations can be made to the Michael H. and Gilda V. Bruno Working Scholar Fund, c/o Peter Lewis Gabak , director of development, Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Print Media, 2208 Gannett Dr., Rochester, NY 14623. E-mail inquiries can be sent to plgdar@rit.edu.

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kobrien@primedabusiness.com.