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Downtown Pittsburgh, underwater, in the aftermath of the St. Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936. Water levels crested at 46 feet. n the late 1920s, teenager Joseph M. Katz labored long hours in his family’s garage in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, working alongside brothers whom he enlisted to his fledging print shop. Harry was the pressman, Manny was the typesetter, and Hy, the youngest of the quartet, had the unenviable task of cleaning ink from the hand press. The amateur operation churned out small batches of menus, invitations, high school graduation cards, and whatever else Katz could solicit door to door. Also drawn to journalism, Katz found time to print his own magazine, Boys Ideal, which gained a circulation of 2,500. In time, this early success would be replicated on a Horatio Alger scale. In 1945, Katz founded Papercraft Corporation, which from an initial $10,000 investment grew into the world’s largest maker of giftwrap and owned a diversified portfolio of more than 4,400 products, including artificial Christmas trees, adhesive tapes and glues, table settings, and toilet bowl cleaner. Eventually the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and managed plants around the country. Distinguished by his penchant for bootstrapping and salesmanship, his mountain climber’s drive to always strain for the higher peak, and his hands-on style that took him out onto the factory floor, Katz was the quintessential red-blooded entrepreneur. His bond to family, faith, and Pittsburgh was cemented through many philanthropic gifts. In 1987, he gave $10 million to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business, then the largest gift in the University’s 200-year history. “He was tough. Demanding. Just as you would expect. Hard work pays off: that’s a lesson I learned from him,” recalls his son Marshall Katz, who led Papercraft after his father’s retirement. Always opportunistic, Katz capitalized on the 1936 Pittsburgh Flood by being the first to sell photos of the aftermath. He used the profits to start a wholesale paper business. During World War II, Katz thought up “Rite-Kit” stationary. The all-in-one kit, a rigid box which contained writing paper, envelopes, and a pencil, was a hit among American servicemen. With the war over, Katz targeted another paper enterprise of national scope. In those days wrapping paper was unadorned. What if designs were made elaborate and specific to occasions Papercraft Corporation was born. In the decades that followed, his giftwrap empire was renewed every Christmas morning when the nation’s exuberant children tore into their presents. “Some people just have a formula for success. Others don’t. He would have been good at whatever he did,” Marshall Katz says. Adapted from The Papercraft Story: A Biographical Saga of a Pittsburgh-based Enterprise by The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation For more on the life of Joseph M. Katz, visit: www.business.pitt.edu/katz/who/joseph-katz. Photo courtesy of Thomas & Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Sen. John Heinz History Center Early 1942 1945 1950s 1958 Kaufmann’s is the first customer of Joseph Katz’s “Rite-Kit” box for U.S. soldiers. Joseph Katz founds Papercraft Corporation on a $10,000 investment. The initial catalogue offers 12 giftwrap designs and flat sheets sell for a dime. Papercraft unveils the “bargain package”: three rolls of giftwrap together. The repackaging revolutionizes how wrapping paper is sold. Papercraft becomes publicly traded. The company produces more than 200 merchandise items and employs 40 salesmen across the country. Pitt business 16 | 17
quintessential entrepreneur 1960 1987 1991 Papercraft makes its first acquisition: the glue and adhesive maker LePage. The purchase is the first of many profitable acquisitions during Joseph Katz’s more than 40 years with Papercraft. Joseph Katz and wife Agnes give $10 million to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Business. The school is renamed in his honor. Joseph Katz dies in Pittsburgh on May 4 at the age of 77.
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