Giuseppina Gagliano
The proud matriarch of the Gagliano family was married to Gaetano Gagliano, founder of St. Joseph Communications, for 70 years, until his death in 2016. Giuseppina died on October 24, 2019. She is remembered with love.
Gaetano and Giuseppina were married in 1945 in a small farming town in southern Italy called Cattolica Eraclea. The early years of their marriage were filled with hard work on the farm and the demands of young children. When Giuseppina was pregnant with their fifth child, she raised the idea of immigrating to Canada for a chance at a better life, and Gaetano agreed. They arrived in Toronto in 1954, and stayed at first with Giuseppina’s sister, all sleeping in one room. Gaetano worked long hours laying track for CP Rail to support his family. In 1956, after only two years in Canada, Gaetano bought his first handheld letterpress. By that time, the family owned a small house on Dufferin Street. They rented out the top two floors, and the family lived in the basement—along with the letterpress. When Giuseppina first saw the strange gadget entering her home, she smiled and teased her husband: “I want to see how you will be able to feed a family of six children with this little machine!”
Giuseppina was pivotal in turning that little machine into the beginnings of a great company. The first time Gaetano tried to operate the letterpress, he started the motor and the rollers snapped off in a hail of ink. On the second go, he skipped the motor and asked Giuseppina to turn the rollers manually. It worked.
Early on, Giuseppina involved herself in the printing business whenever she could—while also catering to the needs of her growing family. “We had many children and little money, and the time on my side was limited,” said Gaetano in his 2000 biography. “I was doing what I could; she was tireless. She deserves all the credit.”
News of an Italian-speaking printer quickly spread, and the business grew throughout the 1960s. By 1971, there were 10 children, and the family finally had a house separate from the printing company.
While the eldest of the Gagliano children became immersed in the business as it grew into a commercial printer and later into a content and media company, the family could always count on Giuseppina’s compassion and faith—values she shared with the wider community as well.
She loved to volunteer at Villa Colombo, a long-termcare facility for seniors where she would bring her rosary and provide comfort through prayer. Giuseppina was a tireless volunteer at Radio Maria Canada, a multinational Catholic radio network. It was she who convinced Gaetano to provide the charity with free accommodation at one of the company’s facilities in Toronto. Radio Maria is still at home there today. She also devoted her time to Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation, the charity Gaetano founded when he was 86 to spread messages of joy and hope to people from all walks of life. No one understood better than Gaetano himself the impact of Giuseppina’s gentle generosity, strength and loving presence. He said this about his wife: “She has been the ideal collaborator. She has raised our children in a wonderful manner. I could never have imagined that we would be able to accomplish so much and so well.”
In her final weeks, after a long battle with dementia, Giuseppina’s family never left her side. She is survived by her 10 children, 35 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.