Gabriel Sauro, a key figure in the printing history of comics for the past four decades, passed away Thursday, July 22, 2021.
He first entered the printing industry when he joined Quebecor World Printing in February 1983. There he established himself as a go-to person for many publishers. He enjoyed recounting how in the boom of the 1990s, so many comics were schedule to ship in one particular week that the output was too big to be assembled in the plant. Instead, he and his colleagues had to set up the shipments in the parking lot and simply hope it wouldn’t rain. They succeeded, and he stayed with the company until August 2009.
In October 2020, he and his partners launched GMA Comics, where he worked until his passing.
“The facts of his career in printing are straight forward and relatively easy to recount. Measuring his impact is an altogether more difficult task.” said J.C. Vaughn, Vice-President of Publishing for Gemstone Publishing.
“While even a dedicated enthusiastic comic book fan wouldn’t have known his name, all of the publishers, distributors, and creators with whom he dealt knew Gabriel Sauro. And to really know Gabe was to love him.”
His printer/publisher relationships were characterized by pulling off the impossible and doing so with a smile. He embodied the “can do” spirit for many.
In a quote that could have come from any number of comic book executives, BOOM! Studios President of Publishing & Marketing Filip Sablik summed up what many thought of Sauro.
“For the last 15 years, he was one of my favorite people in the industry. It was a privilege to call him a friend and business partner. It’s hard to sum up what made Gabe an exceptional human being. He was generous, kind, loyal, gentle, and reliable. His relentless optimism, dedication to his craft and the industry he called home, and his integrity were rare and infectious,” Sablik wrote in a post on Facebook.
Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Rola, and their daughters, as well as to his partners and many friends.
“In introducing us, BroadSword’s Holly Golightly said, ‘Gabe will never let you down,'” Vaughn said. “And he never did.”