Frank Peczuh, Founder of Multi-Location Utah Printing Company, Passes at Age 84

Frank J. Peczuh Sr.
1934 - 2019

Frank Peczuh Sr., 84, passed away in his home surrounded by family on — appropriately — Father’s Day, June 16, 2019. It marked the final chapter for a hard-working entrepreneur and true craftsman who loved the art of good typography and putting ink on paper. First learning the trade working at the Sun Advocate, Frank Peczuh and his then-newlywed wife Judy founded Peczuh Printing in 1962 in Price, Utah, equipped with a single Multilith 1250 press.

"For the first nine years, my dad did all of the prepress work in the basement of his home, and then ran the press and completed the bindery work during the day," notes Frank Pezcuh Jr., president and CEO, who co-owns and runs the business with his brother Tim Peczuh, executive VP.

From its very humble beginnings, the company has gone on to become one of the largest printers in Utah. Today, the $35 million, 165-employee business maintains three production facilities (Price, Lindon and Salt Lake City) and has diversified its mix of product and services. The privately-held company was ranked No. 180 on the most recent Printing Impressions 400 (click here to view complete list) of the largest companies in the U.S. and Canada as ranked by annual sales.

Standing, from the left, are Frank Peczuh Jr., Frank Peczuh Sr. and Timothy Peczuh.

As young adolescents, Pezcuh Jr. fondly recalls his father teaching him and his brother to operate the shop's two Miehle Verticals and a Heidelberg Windmill, and making them learn the California Type Case in order to set type and run letterpress jobs.

But, he points out, the elder Pezcuh foresaw the evolution of letterpress to offset printing and embraced the new technology to grow his business, which at the time mostly catered to the coal mining and electricity generation economy within Southeast Utah. He continued to maintain a strong work ethic and was considered in the local community and among his clientele to be a man of great integrity — positive traits that enabled him to nurture business growth.

"Our father taught us to listen to our customers. He said to let clients dictate what we should become and how we should do it," Pezcuh Jr. notes. This led to Pezcuh Printing's growth well beyond commercial printing, such as packaging, direct mail, signs and banners, Web-to-print, and mailing and fulfillment services.

Its pressroom firepower today consists of three Komori Lithrone 40˝ sheetfed presses: a 10-color perfector, a six-color UV press, and a six-color with aqueous coater. Also in operation at the G7-qualified shop is a half-size Manroland press. Digital output capabilities include an HP Indigo 7900 and four Konica-Minolta color and monochrome printers.

"Dad was in poor health these past five years, so we'd have board meetings all sitting around the kitchen table with coffee and cake," the younger Pezcuh notes. "We really appreciated his wisdom and insight into how we should run our company.

"He left a great legacy, of which I'm very proud."

A funeral mass was held last Friday, June 21, and his burial was private. However, printing industry acquaintances who knew Frank Pezcuh Sr. can still share memories and express their condolences online at www.mitchellfuneralhome.net