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Don K. Black retires after 67 years in the print industry

Industry veteran Don K. Black, owner of Don K. Black Linecasting Service Ltd, is retiring from his nearly seven-decade career in the printing industry at the age of 83. The company recently shuttered after 46 years in business.

Don was only 16 when he got a job at The Globe and Mail in 1953 as an apprentice mechanic. From there, he moved on to the position of journeyman and worked on their press equipment until 1964, when hundreds of typesetters walked off the job on strike. At that time, Don left the newspaper and worked as a freelance machinist until he landed a job with Cooper & Beatty, a typesetting house.

In 1974, Don started his own full-time business, Don K. Black Linecasting, in Scarborough, Ont. Linecasting is an efficient means of producing lead-metal type for use by letterpress printers. In addition, the company bought, reconditioned and sold letterpress and ancillaries to pressmen and neo-craftsmen that continued to work on letterpress printing as a “time-honoured art.”

Don’s son Craig joined the company after graduating high school and worked with Don until 2019, when he passed away following a long battle with cancer.

Over its years of service, Don K. Black Linecasting supported local and international customers with a large array of goods, services and advice on keeping vintage and antique equipment working, even well into the 21^st century.