Bob Biava passes away

Bob was a graduate of Pennsylvania Military College and a veteran of the US Army. His professional career included management positions at Avery Dennison, Essex Coated Products and Webcraft, a print media supplier based in New Jersey.

In 1985 he and his wife bought Driscoll Label from Elwood Driscoll. The acquisition included a separate business, Custom Cut Label Stock, a supplier of small quantity, first quality print materials.

In the 1990s Driscoll Label’s business shifted from supplying small retail businesses to servicing the needs of larger and more distant companies. The company evolved from a three-color Mark Andy press to larger machines from Roto Press, eventually to a 10-color press.

In 2005 they sold the businesses and retired.

A long-time TLMI member, Bob Biava was an astute marketer who appreciated the benefits of networking.

In 2005, Driscoll Label won TLMI’s Eugene Singer Award for the best managed company, the highest achievement in the North American label industry.

He was also one of the founders, in the mid-1990s, of NELMA, the North East Label Manufacturers Association.

An avid boater, Bob spent much of his life enjoying the New Jersey shore in his free time. Over the past 15 years he became enamored with the American Southwest, and would spent winters at the family’s desert home outside of Phoenix, Arizona, at the foot of the Superstition Mountains.

Ken Mihalik, a long-time friend and Driscoll Label’s director of operations for 20 years, thinks of Bob as ‘more than a brother’, and said: ‘He was a mentor in many ways. He was generous, he took suggestions, he had a great sense of humor. We were really a family there. The flavor of our company was people.’

Bob Mazzella, the owner of Label Master, a converter in Lodi, New Jersey, was one of the NELMA founders and an admirer of Bob Biava. Mazzella said: ‘He was driven, and he was knowledgeable – really knowledgeable. I trusted him. You could talk with him and get a good answer. He was always there for you.’

Surviving in addition to his wife is their son, Jason. Bob also has a daughter, Stacey Connors, and a son, Scott Biava, and three grandchildren, Keith Oikle, Mason Oikle and Alexander Biava.

A memorial celebration will take place December 6 at Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, New Jersey, from 1-5pm.