Generoso Pope (April 1, 1891 - April 28, 1950) is an Italian-American businessman and owner of a network of Italian-language newspapers in major American cities.
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Family
Generoso was born with the name Generoso Antonio Pompilio Carlo Papa. He is the son of Fortunato and Fortunata Papa farmers. Her last name is an English version of her birth name, "Papa" being the Italian speech form for the Pope. After coming to the United States, he became the father of three sons with his wife, Catherine (1896-1998). His eldest son, Fortunato "Fortunate", (1918-1996) graduated from Columbia University and became an executive in the family construction business. Anthony (1919-2005) who is a middle child, took over the family business and quadrupled the size of the Sand and Colonial Stone Company in less than four years. Generoso Pope, Jr. (1927-1988) graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 19 and bought what became the National Enquirer in 1952, two years after his father's death.
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Careers
Generoso Pope arrived in the United States at the age of 15 in 1906 and found a job carrying water for a construction crew for $ 3 a week. He got into a construction supervisor and, finally, the owner of Colonial Sand & amp; Stone, which is the largest sand and pebble company in the world.
In 1912, Generoso founded Pope Foods to import Italian food. He bought Italian-language newspaper Il Progresso Italo-Americano in 1928 for $ 2.050,000, which would be converted to $ 261 million in a modern economy. He doubled his circulation to 200,000 in New York City, making him the largest Italian language daily in the country. He bought additional newspapers in New York, including Il Bollettino della Sera, Il Corriere d'America, and the daily Philadelphia L'Opinione . He also has a radio station, WHO. It is the main source of political, social, and cultural information for society.
A conservative Democrat who runs the Columbus Day parade and admire Mussolini, the Pope is the strongest anti-fascist enemy among Italians. He is closely tied to Tammany Hall politics in New York, and his newspapers play a key role in securing the Italian vote for Democratic ticket Franklin D. Roosevelt. With his presidential friendship Generoso was able to make Columbus Day a national holiday in 1934. He also founded the Columbus Day Parade in New York City, which is still the largest Columbus Day Parade in the world.
The Pope served as chairman of the Italian Division's National Democratic Committee in 1936, and helped persuade the president to take a neutral stance on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. He broke with Benito Mussolini in 1941 and enthusiastically supported the American war effort. In the late 1940s, the Pope supported and helped secure a vote for William O'Dwyer as mayor of New York City in 1945 and Harry S. Truman as president. Business concerns continue to grow under the New York Democratic administration. In the early years of the Cold War, the Pope was a prominent anti-Communist, masterminding his letter-writing campaign by his customers to stop the Communists winning the Italian elections in 1948.
Death
Generoso Pope died of heart disease at the age of 59 in April 1950. At the time of his death, he lived at 1040 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, an apartment building that would become famous fourteen years later as Jackie Kennedy's home. The pope is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in a private mausoleum adjacent to Central Avenue, the main cemetery street. His wife, Catherine Richichi Pope, died 48 years later in 1998 at the age of 101. The entire Pope's family was buried in Woodlawn except for Gene, Jr., who is buried at Queen's Catholic cemetery Our Lady of Peace in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.
Legacy
St. Athletic Complex Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, named after Pope Generoso. The complex is home to the NCAA Division I university team and was established in 1971. In addition, Pope Hall at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, dedicated to Generoso in 1971. The Generoso Pope Foundation is located in Tuckahoe, New York. There is also a mural of dedication to Generoso Pope at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, New York.
References
External links
- Pope Generoso Foundation
- Generoso Pope in Finding the Mausoleum
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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