FOUNDER OF REPEAT-O-TYPE PASSES AWAY
Joseph Keen, who founded Repeat-O-Type in 1931 died at the age of eighty-nine on August 21, 1997 at his home in North Miami Beach, Florida.
Joseph was born in Chicago on Christmas day in 1907. Because of his father's death he had to leave school after the eighth grade to help support his family. His first job was working in a factory stuffing rag dolls. His employment history included such diverse jobs as selling vegetables from a horse and wagon; "call boy" (person who locates railroad train crew members and informs them of time they are to report to work for next train run); "butcher boy" (candy salesman on railroad train); lathe operator in tractor factory; union organizer and fireman on a steamship.
When the great depression hit in 1929 Joe's ship sailed into New York as the steamship company declared bankruptcy. Joe was stranded in New York with no job and no hope of getting a job.
He did have one skill which he had learned as a child - - repairing mimeograph machines. That's when he became self employed. He went from office to office, offering to repair and clean people's mimeographs. Soon he was also selling mimeograph stencils and inks as well. In 1931 he founded Repeat-O-Type Stencil Manufacturing Company and started making mimeograph stencils in a small loft building upstairs over the famous Luchows Restaurant on Fourteenth Street in New York. The business grew slowly and as he needed more space Repeat-O-Type moved to 195 Christy Street in Manhattan, then to 153-157 Coffey Street in Brooklyn and, in 1964, to its current site in Wayne, New Jersey.
In 1975 Repeat-O-Type was reorganized as a New Jersey Corporation and Joe's elder son, Fred, became President and his younger son, Robert, became the Secretary of the Corporation. Joseph continued as Chairman of the Board and Treasurer until age and illness forced his resignation in late 1996.
The employees of Repeat-O-Type will all miss the advice and guidance of our founder and mentor.
Joseph's other interest in life was magic. He started doing amateur magic shows for various charities during the Second World War. Soon his skills of legerdemain were in such demand that giving magic shows became a second profession. Joe always had a deck of cards and a length of rope in his pocket, ready to entertain and amaze everybody he met.