The Metro New York Printing Ink Association (MNYPIA) honored Myron Petruch, president of Sun Chemical Performance Pigments and an executive officer of DIC Corporation, with its Anthony Mauriello Man of the Year award. The 15th recipient of the award, Petruch was honored May 24, 2017 at a dinner held in his honor at the Iberia Peninsula restaurant in Newark, NJ.

“Thank you very, very much,” Petruch said after receiving the award. “It is really an honor, and I am humbled to be among the legends in the industry who have received this award. I will always be supportive of these associations.

“It’s nice to see so many good friends here,” he added. “It is so nice and a joy to go to work. I want us to all be proud of our industry and what we do. It’s really been a great experience.”

Petruch is a 1986 graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology, and he received his MBA with majors in finance and international business from Seton Hall University in 1989.

He began his career with Engelhard in 1986, remaining with the company after it was acquired by BASF in 2006. He held positions of increasing responsibility, including sales manager, product manager, director of sales and marketing and general manager during his time there.

Petruch joined Sun Chemical as president of its Performance Pigments division in 2008. Under his leadership, Sun Chemical has executed seven bolt-on global acquisitions, including Kingfisher Colours in 2015 and Benda-Lutz in 2012. He has led the division to unprecedented growth in both sales and profitability through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisition.

In addition to serving as president of Performance Pigments, Petruch has also been named chairman of Sun China in 2011, president of Sun Chemical’s Electronic Materials division in 2013, and an executive officer of DIC Corporation, Sun Chemical’s parent company, in 2017. As executive director, he has been given additional operational and strategic responsibilities within DIC’s Global Pigments organization.

In recognition of his leadership, Petruch received the Coatings Industry Achievement Award from ACA in 2014. He is married for more than 25 years to Eileen; they have three daughters: Natalie, 24, Julia, 22, and Aly,18.

Many of his colleagues from Sun Chemical and throughout the industry paid tribute to Petruch’s kindness and leadership, beginning with Sun Chemical’s Ed Polaski, who served as master of ceremonies.

“I first met Myron in 1986, when we were Engelhard’s distributors,” said Steve Kafka of Superior Materials. “He’s such a pure, lovely, intelligent and nice human being. We’re very proud of you.”

NAPIM’s George Fuchs, who was Petruch’s first boss, reminisced about how Petruch impressed everyone as an intern for Allied in 1982.

“I have the distinction of knowing Myron longer than anyone here,” Fuchs recalled. “Allied brought Myron in to our internship program, and unlike most interns, he actually did a tremendous amount of work for us. We liked him so much that we brought him back again the next year. When I saw him come to his first NAPIM Convention in 2008, I was gratified but not really surprised at all that he was that same honest, sincere person I knew when he was in his early twenties.”