Donald M. Genaro (born 1932) is a retired American

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufact ...

. He was president of Henry Dreyfuss Associates up to 1994. He has been recognized by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' for his contribution to industrial design.

Biography

Genaro was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58, ...

, where he attended public school. He served an apprenticeship at the architecture firm of F.W. Fisher but left to serve the U.S. army during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

. After mustering out he entered the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

where he graduated in 1957 with a degree in industrial design. A year before completing his studies, Genaro started a work/study program at the offices of Henry Dreyfuss and he remained with the firm after graduation. Genaro took on several projects among Henry Dreyfuss' corporate clients and was made an associate in 1963. He became a partner shortly thereafter and worked alongside Henry Dreyfuss until Dreyfuss' retirement in 1969. Genaro then remained the senior partner until his retirement from the firm in 1994. Throughout his career Genaro oversaw product development, ergonomic, graphic and architectural/interior design projects for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, a ...

, Polaroid,

Singer Corporation Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Singer, Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward Cabot Clark, Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing mac ...

, American Standard and

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...

, among others. He has also consulted with

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been pa ...

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in ...

Matsushita Electric formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

and

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

. Genaro has lectured on design at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People * Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name * Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie *Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyt ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, the Pratt Institute and the Rhode Island School of Design. After retirement he assumed the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors of

Pascack Valley Hospital Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) is a former 291-bed hospital, located at 250 Old Hook Road, Westwood, New Jersey. History Pascack Valley Hospital opened on June 1, 1959, as an 86-bed community hospital. It underwent several expansions and grew to ...

Westwood, New Jersey Westwood (known as "The Hub of the Pascack Valley") is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,908,

Notable designs

One of Genaro's most notable designs is the compact 1965

Trimline phone The Trimline telephone is a series of telephones that was produced by Western Electric, the manufacturing unit of the Bell System. These telephones were first introduced in 1965 and are formally referred to as the ''No. 220 Hand Telephone ...

which was designed for

with the Bell Labs and manufactured by Bell System's

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

company. This design was notable for moving the dial from the base to the handset, a legacy carried on in all modern

cell phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. It was also among the first phones to use the

RJ11 A registered jack (RJ) is a standardized telecommunication network interface for connecting voice and data equipment to a service provided by a local exchange carrier or long distance carrier. Registration interfaces were first defined in the ...

modular phone plug and jack, a connecting device now found on numerous products. Genaro also worked on

Singer Sewing Machines Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Man ...

, the Bard-Parker scalpel,

tractors, Polaroid cameras, building and aircraft interiors for

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passenge ...

, th
Flicker razor
and sinks and faucets for American Standard, among others.

Achievements and awards

In 1985, ''

'' described Genaro as "one of a small but growing fraternity that decides the shapes, sizes and colors of everyday products—pens and stoves, belt buckles and cars". His designed have obtained awards from professional organizations and publications, as well as coverage in '' Fortune'', ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' and ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mu ...

''. His designs feature in collections at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

and National Design Museum. He holds over 150 US patents.

Professional organization membership

Genaro is a member of the

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of ...

Personal life

Genaro lives with his family in

Haworth, New Jersey Haworth ( ) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 3,382,

Notes

External links

J. J. Sedelmaier, "Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend - The Hardwired (AT&T/Bell System/Western Electric) Telephone""Gale Directory of Company Histories: Henry Dreyfuss Associates LLC"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genaro, Donald 1932 births American industrial designers Pratt Institute alumni Living people People from Haworth, New Jersey People from Hoboken, New Jersey