Type Faces: Meet Pat Lightizer.

Welcome to our Type Faces series, where we’ll be sharing the stories of some of the fabulous people behind the type here at Monotype. From all around the globe and across the organization, our Monotype colleagues truly prove that, like Charles Nix, Senior Executive Creative Director at Monotype, always says, “We are ALL creative.”

As the longest-tenured Monotype employee, Pat Lightizer has seen the transformation of the typography industry, from manual typesetting in her early days at Compugraphic Corporation in 1973 to her operations work at Monotype today. Throughout, what’s remained consistent is her love of type.

Portrait of Pat Lightizer.

Mary Catherine Pflug, Senior Director, Partners & Inventory Lifecycle at Monotype, who has worked with Pat throughout her time at Monotype, says, “Pat is Monotype’s MVP! Her success over the years stems from her ability to adapt, drive change, and anticipate new technologies, business trends, and customer needs. She’s laser focused on ‘doing things right’ and cares deeply about our partnerships with designers.”

Mary Catherine Pflug (left) and Pat Lightizer (right) at a party celebrating Pat’s years of service at Monotype.

Learn more about Pat, including her love of 1950s country music, fearlessness in the face of heights and power tools, and how to plan a great themed party.

You’ve made the greater Boston area your home for a long time. What makes your community here special to you? What do you cherish about choosing to stay rooted in the place you grew up?
I’ve lived in this area my whole life, and in my house for 40 years. A lot of people ask how I’ve lived in one place so long. But I know my neighbors so well — on both sides, they’ve lived here longer than me! My children learned how to ride bikes on the street right out front. I love that we get all four seasons here and I celebrate them with decorations for the holidays, decorating my whole house.

Pat loves to decorate the house for holidays — from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, she’s known for going all-out.

We’re all inspired by different things in life. Who or what inspires you? 
My mom inspired me a lot because my mom was very independent. She raised seven of us — me and six brothers — and she was always very handy. I think that’s where I got it from. I learned so many things, that it doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to do it. I learned how to use power tools, like a chop saw, and I took that to my home and then worked with my daughter on her home too. 

Pat Lightizer riding a slide at a neighborhood park with her three granddaughters when they were little.

You’re really close with your family. Part of how we connect to our family and our past is through food. What’s your favorite family recipe? 
My mother’s zucchini bread recipe. My colleagues always love when I bring it in to work! My mother also made a mean lasagna, and I’m always trying to recreate it. But she never measured anything, so it’s hard to imitate it perfectly. I still have some of her recipes in her own handwriting.

Pat’s mother’s recipe for zucchini bread.

What’s something that you think would surprise people to learn about you? 
Heights don’t bother me. I took my grandkids to Universal Studios this year and I rode with them on every roller coaster they had in the park, some more than once. Even the ones that went upside down and backwards. It was a lot of fun.

Who’s an artist you love and why? 
I’m really into 1950s country music, especially women artists. People like Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Skeeter Davis. It was something I grew up with and listened to with my parents. We had their albums and would play them over and over again.  We had friends that were in country bands, too. I love it. 

Pat’s rescue dogs, Millie (left) and Riley (right). They spend many workdays sleeping on their dog beds in her office.

We’re all creative in different ways. How are you creative? 
I love to throw parties. In my next life, I’ll be a party planner. I do everything for these parties — I create the theme, set up the tents and décor, cook all the food, and make the invitations. Every year, I host a themed pool party to celebrate my twin granddaughters’ birthday. I’ve done a Hawaiian theme, flamingo party, sports theme, you name it. 

What are your top three tips for planning a great party? 
1. Make a list and plan as much as you can in advance.
2. Be ready before anyone shows up.
3. Never ask a guest to bring something you actually need for the party — only nice-to-haves and extras. Then, if they forget or don’t bring enough for everyone, you don’t have to scramble at the last minute.

You’ve been working with type for over 50 years. What do you find interesting about typography? 
I find it amazing that designers can come up with so many truly different designs. It’s also incredible to realize how much time and work actually goes into making a font. At the moment, I’m really excited to work with new languages, like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indic languages. 

Zapfino® Extra is one of Pat’s favorite fonts. She is always very intentional when choosing a typeface for an invitation, pairing it to the occasion.

What’s a typeface you love and why? 
I tend to gravitate towards script fonts. I loved writing in cursive when I was younger. Today, it’s like a lost art. It has to be readable still, too. Zapfino® Extra does both — it’s a fancy, swirly script, but you can still read what you have to say.

Staff photo at Compugraphic Corporation. See if you can find Pat in the top left!

How has your work life evolved since you first joined Compugraphic in 1973? 
My job today is very different from when I started. I came to Compugraphic right out of high school to work in the art department as a type clerk. I’d fill out spreadsheets with all the characters, make a filmstrip, and test them on all of our equipment so the designers could decide what adjustments needed to be made at different widths. That was old school! 

Today I work on the back end bringing in new font libraries. I’m on my third database merger now, and I love digging into that stuff. I love to know a little about a lot, enough to be dangerous. 

I’ve been very lucky to be able to continue working with fonts throughout all the changes across the years. It’s given me all this historical knowledge that I’m very happy to share. 

Pat Lightizer (third from left) and the other recipients of the Unsung Hero Award at the Presidents Club trip in March 2024.

What do you love about your job? 
In my job, I love to dig and investigate to root out any problems, because if there’s one problem there’s probably more. So, what’s the root cause? Can we find it and fix it? I’ve seen a lot and can see if something’s happened before and point out what might be going on. I’ll never just answer a question. I’m going to tell you why that’s the answer.

Interested in joining the Monotype team? See our list of open positions here.