While Paul Brainerd Was a Staunch Supporter of Bainbridge Parks and Trails, He Was Also One of Washington’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs, Creating the Desktop Publishing Revolution

Paul Brainerd, an island icon and a champion of our community’s parks and trails, sadly passed away last month. But his legacy goes way beyond his staunch support of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and the creation of Islandwood – the Puget Sound environmental learning center on Bainbridge’s south end – that he launched with the help of his wife Debbie, more than two decades ago.

A former journalist with the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Brainerd almost single-handled transformed the way practically every kind of printed material was produced back in the late 1980s with the development of a software program – Pagemaker – that replaced traditional page layout and design. His software hatched what came to be known as Desktop Publishing, allowing even individuals to produce newsletters, brochures and newspapers from the comfort of their own stand-alone computers.

I got to know Paul Brainerd some 35 years ago when he was running Aldus Corp. in Pioneer Square and I was the founding editor of a relatively new statewide business magazine called Washington CEO. Back then, Boeing was still Washington’s most recognizable business. Weyerhaeuser was a close second, and relative newcomers like Microsoft and Starbucks were just emerging on the national scene. No one had ever heard of Amazon, because it didn’t exist!

After a few conversations with Paul, I convinced him that a cover story in our magazine would help enhance his business – not only among potential Pagemaker users – but also with the titans of Wall Street. He agreed and we produced a cover story in May 1991, with the catchy headline, “Pagemaker’s Papa”. The piece, several thousand words long, shared the arc of Brainerd and Aldus Corp.’s evolution from his college years at the University of Oregon to his challenges securing investment money to back his fledgling company.

Brainerd was a classic entrepreneur. He sank $100,000 of his own money supporting Aldus in the early days, only to watch the money dry up after six months of research and development. But that setback didn’t deter him. He then went on the road in search of $1 million in venture capital. Fifty stops later – you heard right, 50 – he finally found a company willing to back his emerging enterprise.

“There was never any question in my mind that it would be everybody’s dream in the publishing field,” said Douglas DeVivo of Vanguard Associates II in the Washington CEO article. “His story made a lot of sense.”

“Why did he take a chance,” we asked DeVivo, from his office in his Silicon Valley.  DeVivo said he looked beyond the risks of the idea to the man behind it: Paul Brainerd. “In this business we often bet on people,” he explained. “Paul had a nature and a style I found very appealing. It was clear that he was determined and driven to make Aldus succeed.”

And succeed it did. Since Vanguard plopped down $900,000 in 1984 to back Aldus, the company grew from a seat-of-the-pants operation housed in a Pioneer Square warehouse loft to a publicly traded company with offices and sales representatives scattered around the globe. At the time our story on Brainerd was published, Aldus had more than 800 employees and annual sales of $135 million. It was then Washington’s second largest software company behind an upstart called Microsoft.

What helped spirit Aldus’ rapid rise in the marketplace was the acceptance of Apple Computer’s Macintosh PC and its accompanying LaserWriter printer. Those two pieces of equipment made desktop publishing – later called electronic publishing – affordable for both individuals and companies.

While Brainerd was a successful CEO in every aspect of that role, his caring personality and people skills often set him apart from other top executive, recalled those who knew him back then. “Paul stands (stood) out as someone who has made it and still looks back to help the people coming up behind him,” said Paul Grey, president of SoftChec, a Kirkland software company that used Aldus’ products. Too, Grey was impressed with Brainerd’s hands-on style. “He seems to know all his employees,” he said in the Washington CEO piece. “One time we were riding the elevator back to his office with one of his janitors. Turned out he even knew the janitor by his first name.”

Added Grey, “He’s (was) a very good communicator; always very calm and thoughtful. … When he opens his mouth, he knows what he’s going to say. He has a real vision of the industry.”

Obviously, a savvy businessman Brainerd and his backers eventually sold Aldus to Mountain View, CA.-based Adobe Corp. around 1994. The latter tech giant makes Photoshop, Acrobat and other desktop publishing software products. Interestingly, in the same May 1991 Washington CEO magazine that featured Paul Brainerd, two other Bainbridge figures appeared. We did an in-depth feature of John Jacobi, a long-time islander who grew Windermere Real Estate into one of the state’s largest RE firms with innovative approaches and homespun philosophies. And we ran a column by David Harrison, another well-known islander, who was then running the Northwest Policy Center at the UW’s Graduate School of Public Affairs.

Fast forward to today when the community recognizes the contributions of Paul and Debbi Brainerd, along with Alan and Sally Black, who together were foundational supporters of the Parks and Trails Foundation. https://biparksfoundation.org/ “The two couples helped expand and professionalize the organization with the hiring of its first executive director in 2014,” said current ED Mary Meir. “Their continued commitment has allowed the Foundation to grow its operations to become highly impactful for community-inspired park and trail projects.”

Paul and Debbi’s environmental philanthropy extended across the Pacific Northwest and around the globe. Paul was familiar with the workings of parks foundations around the country and believed that this type of organization could successfully work with island donors and its local community to support and extend the care that was needed for the trails they walked daily on the island, Meir said.

“Paul was especially committed to the eradication and management of invasive weeds that challenge our parks and trails ecosystems.,” she said. “Paul inspired deep and meaningful stewardship of Blakely Harbor Park from its creation in 1998 to the present day. With the Brainerds’ leadership and financial support, the former mill town site has been transformed into a stellar shoreline park that has inspired even more environmental restoration and community stewardship.”

As an avid hiker, Paul also championed the idea of an expanded, connected trail system around the island. The Foundation enthusiastically embraced this vision and has worked with community members to add new public trails to the Park District and City every year since 2014, Meir added.

In 2021, the Brainerds entrusted the Foundation with the ongoing care of Halls Hill Lookout & Labyrinth, a contemplative open space overlooking Blakely Harbor the Brainerds created a decade earlier. This beloved space will remain a community asset forever.

Around the year 2000, the Brainerds established Islandwood after purchasing some 230 acres formerly owned by Port Blakely Mill Co. IslandWood was founded as an environmental learning center created to improve access to meaningful, nature-based learning experiences for the Puget Sound region’s children. It offers a variety of immersive programs throughout the Seattle region to help children, educators, and community members deepen their understanding of the world around them, explore important environmental issues, and see the power they have to make a positive impact on their communities and the planet, according to its web site.

For more information visit: https://islandwood.org/