Acme Printing President, Francis Canzano Jr., Succumbs to Cancer

WILMINGTON, MA—October 15, 2009—Francis W. Canzano Jr., president of Acme Printing Co., passed away on October 13th after a long battle with cancer. He was 67 years old. A member of the Boston Litho Club, he has won numerous national and international awards in the Graphic arts industry.

Since its founding in 1930, Acme Printing remained a privately-held business operated by the Canzano family until April 1998 when Acme was acquired by the Commercial Division of World Color, which subsequently merged to become Quebecor World in November 1999. Acme became a division of The MATLET Group in 2005.

Having worked in every operating department on a part-time basis since a teenager, Francis W. “Fran” Canzano, Jr. began his full-time career at Acme in 1965 in sales. Fran quickly demonstrated strong performance as a result of highly-developed profes­sionalism and resourcefulness; this resulted in being promoted to Vice President of Sales in 1969. In 1982, Mr. Canzano was appointed President of Acme Printing.

During his 40 years with Acme, Fran has successfully steered the company through a variety of significant techno­logical, cultural and marketplace changes. Under Mr. Canzano’s leadership, Acme has evolved from a local printer of election ballots and store flyers to become one of North America’s most highly-regarded web and sheet fed printers.

In 1998, judges selected Acme as the “Sappi International Printer of The Year”, from among 1,300 other printers in a worldwide competition. In 1999, Acme was again selected as the “North American Printer of The Year” by Sappi. More recently, in 2007, Acme won first place in the Gallery of Superb Printing awards in several categories including Annual reports, heat set web printing, magazines, direct mail and binding.

Mr. Canzano has long been a believer in customer satisfaction and in the value of forging solid relationships. As a result Acme has maintained many long-standing customers over the years.

Industry and community involvement has been an important and constant theme to Mr. Canzano. Printing industry organizations in which Fran has held leadership positions are: Boston Litho Club, Boston Club of Printing House Craftsmen, P.I.N.E. and P.I.A.

His contribution to the community has been consistent and significant. Most notably, Mr. Canzano was a past director of the Don Orion Home for Elderly, a trustee of the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and a director (for 22 years) of the New England Home for Little Wanderers, an orphanage and private child welfare agency.

Fran served in the US Coast Guard, was an avid boater and golfer, and loved the ocean and the Cape. Even though he was admired as a successful businessman, he felt his most important role was as a husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

Fran will be remembered by all who knew him as having a true passion for the printing business and always caring about the people around him – whether they were family, colleagues, customers or friends. He will be laid to rest on October 16, 2009 in Centerville, MA.

Mr. Canzano’s friends in the industry are invited to make a donation in his memory to the Cam Neely Foundation, 30 Winter St., 2nd floor, Boston, MA, 01208 www.camneelyfoundation.org