This is a story of two fathers, who made an indelible mark on their sons, Leading off is Jimi Bonaro.
Coming Full Circle
Publisher’s Son Becomes Publisher
Of all the jobs I had as a kid, and the career I've had for the majority of my life, all seemed to prepared me for what I believe to be, my finest and most fulfilling career, Publisher of Asbury Park City Lifestyle magazine! June, being the month we honor Fathers, I was truly tossed as to whether or not to write about my own father, Joseph Bonaro. He’s been gone a long time yet it doesn’t seem so long ago he and I had many good conversations just before he passed away.
I worked in my father's business most of my life to some capacity. While running my own
bulk mailing business, Metropolitan Flyers Inc., which worked in tandem with my father’s printing company, JB Offset Printing in Westwood NJ, I ran the printing presses for JB Offset while running my bulk mailing facility. One memory that always makes me smile now is, at the end of a long ten to twelve hour day, sometimes I’d see my father as I was leaving the building. He’d say, 'Workin Half a Day!' That would tick me off! I know he was kidding but it was how he let me know that he worked hard his whole life. He wanted me to work hard too, and I did.
My father started his business career with literally, $1000 that his father, my grandfather, Louis Bonaro, saved for him when he got out of WWII. Joe served in the US Navy on the USS Intrepid in the Pacific for 4 years. The Intrepid is now a museum docked in NYC.
JB Offset began in 1962 when my father, was a publisher of four small, local advertising
newspapers. In the late 50’s and early 60’s there were no offset newspaper printers in
NJ. My father had to send someone with the “Boards” (paste-up pages) to Philadelphia to
the printer. The next day he’d send a truck to pick up the four publications for distribution.
That’s when he said, “That’s crazy, I’ll buy my own printing presses and do this myself!”
In 1962, Joe Bonaro bought a small building on Broadway in Westwood, NJ, and a four
unit Goss Suburban printing press. People said, “Joe, you’re crazy for buying printing
presses, TV is the new media!” Well, here we are in 2026, 64 years later, and the skeptics were wrong! There are still newspapers and print media, and it is stronger today than anyone imagined!
JB Offset grew fast. In 1966 more printing presses were purchased and a bigger building in Montvale NJ was purchased. By 1980, JB offset grew to the largest Offset printer in NJ. Now in a 52,000 square foot building, JB Offset was a well-established most reliable printing facility in NJ. In 1987, Metropolitan Flyers, Inc. Bulk Mailing facility was born and was the mailing arm for JB Offset Printing. It was a good partnership.
Joe Bonaro, who achieved great status in his life and raised five children, owned the largest building in Westwood NJ as well as a medical center, and several beautiful homes and condos in NJ and Florida. He made many great real estate deals which afforded him a very good life. However, he still wanted more!
As he passed away in December of 2013 he was a fighter and a negotiator to the end. Arguing with the Hospice caretaker, “He wanted a second opinion!” It was never my plan to follow in my father’s footsteps being a publisher, but it was destiny. Although the types of publications are very different, the job is the same. As my father started out publishing the Teaneck Shopper and the Pascack Shopper and Two Rockland County, NY papers, before getting into printing newspapers, I knew as a boy, he enjoyed his job. I see that more clearly today as I meet so many people in business throughout Monmouth County as Publisher of Asbury Park City Lifestyle Magazine.
After closing my business, Metropolitan Flyers, Inc. in 2020 due to the COVID 19 Pandemic literally stopping business in its track, I found myself looking for something to do. Moving full-time to Asbury Park was the number one plan. My wife and I had purchased our Asbury residence in 2003 but didn’t move here full time until 2023. Knowing we would someday live here we always felt a love for this town. But now Asbury Park is our “Home Sweet Home!”
Looking for something to do that would excite me was the challenge. I had several ideas,
everything from opening a restaurant on the boardwalk to a food truck to an advertiser
flyer to painting houses! Then Asbury Park City Lifestyle came across our radar and I
said, “Wow! This is a great product!” The more I researched the more I saw this was a
fit. A family fit!
Publishing AP City Lifestyle brings me back to how I envisioned my father in his early days. Loving the business of bringing important content to the community and keeping people informed while showcasing the best local businesses. Publishing was in my blood, thanks to my father. It feels good to be doing this work! It’s funny how life has a way of bringing you places you never thought you’d be, then when you get there, you say, “This is exactly where I want to be!” So coming full circle from my father’s beginnings to my present-day life, I am grateful for the work I ended up doing and the legacy I inherited!
But not everyone follows in their father's footsteps. It's a different story for Ed Condran.
When I asked Marlon Wayans how he and his very successful brothers made it while growing up in the then hardscrabble world of Hell's Kitchen during the '80s, the comic-actor laughed. Wayans noted that his demanding father set the tone.
"Men are made," Shawn Wayans said. "Women are naturally on it but boys have to be molded and our father molded each of us."
I get it. A father's role is integral. This reminds me of my parenting column, "Dad Daze," which ran for three-years earlier this decade in a Pacific Northwest publication. When my editor asked me to write the column, another female editor asked, "What does a father know about parenting?"
She never met my father but she got to know him through my columns. Although Edward Condran Junior and I appeared very different on the surface, he molded me, and we were similar inside.
My earliest memories of my father were of an exhausted brute who returned home absolutely drained. I recall running to him when I was three-years old. I would jump up into his muscular arms and he would hoist me onto his shoulder. No matter how tired he was, he would hoist me skyward and kiss me on the cheek.
My dad was passionate about construction but his obsession with brick work, carpentry, plumbing and electrical skipped a generation.
Now that I have children, I understand the desire to work with my kids in any capacity. My father learned that I was moving in a different direction. He said, "You build with words."
Ah, acceptance! We were kindred spirits after all. We also shared discipline in working on what we loved and placing family above ourselves.
My father's tenacity rubbed off on me. I never give up. How could I since my father overcame a myriad of obstacles? During the Great Depression, my grandfather decided his most gifted son would drop out of school to support his family.
Less than three months before Pearl Harbor was bombed, my father turned 18. He was drafted shortly after the day that will live in infamy.
For nearly four years, my father survived while stationed primarily in Europe.
My dad endured the war, returned to the States, met my mother and married. Since much of my father’s young life was fraught with relentless challenges, I recall a man who possessed remarkable grace under pressure. When the construction business went bust during my childhood, my father, a talented contractor, shifted gears to provide.
My dad was unflappable and proud, which was the norm for “The Greatest Generation.” I think of his dogged determination whenever my children want to take the easy way out because he laughed at shortcuts. “If you do that, it’ll come back to bite you,” he said.
When I look back at his 84 years on this planet, I’m always amazed how such a mountain of a man with such a gruff exterior, which frightened casual friends, was so gentle.
The old man who couldn’t wait for me to become a father was 75 when I made him a grandfather. I’ll never forget the happy tears he shed when he embraced my daughter Jillian for the first time.
And then there was the time he spoke of passing on the family name. “You know that all of your cousins have had girls,” he said. Thank you for the pressure. I know how tickled he was when my son Eddie was born.
My dad held Jillian, Eddie and my younger son Milo as if they were his lifeline since he knew his time was limited. I’ll never forget how he let Eddie, then 2 years old, sleep on his tired, broken and arthritic body for our hours at a time.
“I didn’t want to wake him up,” my dad would say. When my mother would play on the floor with Eddie, my dad beamed. “He looks so much like Edziu (Eddie in Polish, when he referred to me). You think he’s Edziu, don’t ya?” Then he would laugh.
My father spoke Polish even though his ethnicity was primarily from the United Kingdom. But my mother, to whom he was married for 57 years, was 100% Polish, and he worshipped her. My dad embraced polkas, pierogies and all things Poland. My dad is even buried in a Polish cemetery with his bride.
My father sounded like the grizzled character Clint Eastwood portrayed in “Gran Torino,” but, unlike many of his peers, he had no problem expressing his love and affection for me and his grandchildren. Even though my father had endless crosses to bear throughout his existence, he never blinked or delivered a discouraging word.
Despite how creaky his bones were, my father would attend his grandchildren’s baseball games, recitals and plays. He and my mother delivered my greatest parenting lessons by being selfless.
When my father passed away in 2007, I couldn't help but think about his mantra. “Life is for the living,” my dad said. “Live it to the fullest. Your obligation is to help your children become the best people they can be. You have three children (my father never met my daughter Jane), so you have your hands full.”
Thanks, Dad, for handing me the template for life. I'm still building with words just like you did with brick.
Help your children become the best people they can be.
I'm going to run with a callback to the editor in the feature who asked, "What does a father know about parenting?" Dads today do more heavy lifting than ever. I can't imagine how many practices and games I drove my sons to between hockey and club baseball. I lived at the rink considering my sons each played hockey from 6-18. It was exhausting, expensive but also exhilarating. I also enjoyed my daughters' dance and music recitals.. And then there is charting their course through school and life. The greatest gift a parent can give a child is confidence. Direction is right there as well. Dads, just like moms, enjoy helping with school work and helping their children take on the adventure in life. My greatest production is my children. I have four children, ages, 27, 24, 20 and 16. Each are different and are flourishing, part of it has to do with how they were raised. I'm so pleased that I was able to experience so much of their growth from childhood to adulthood.