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Vincent Genovese is coaching younger family members to instill the drive that led him from emigrating from the Tyrrhenian commune of Gioia Tauro (in Reggio Calabria) to serving as a senior executive at two multinational firms and raising the status of Italian Americans in the Philadelphia area and Florida.
The first Sunday in January he invites his extended family to a restaurant and tells all eight grandnephews and grandnieces to “stand up and give me a report of what you have done in the months before, academically, scholastically, business, socially,” he said. “Now we have the good life, but life in the future will be very, very difficult. There is a lot you have to learn, and be ready to work.”
In other words, study hard and work hard like Uncle Vincent.
Genovese was 17 when he arrived with his family in 1955 in Philadelphia on a Saturday and was working in his uncles’ garment factory on Monday. “Like a donkey. I was happy to have a job,” he said. “I was happy to be an American, but I needed to go higher.”
He knew that he needed to learn English and develop the accounting skills he had started to acquire in Italy. “I was ambitious, and America was the land of opportunity. If you worked hard, you could get as high as you wanted. And I wanted to.”
After studying English for three years at night school at South Philadelphia High School, he felt ready to enter Temple University at night, where he earned a bachelor’s in business administration. While working for a small CPA firm, he was building his own tax practice. To follow his ambitious plan, he devoted six months of intense studying to become a certified public accountant, giving up spending time with friends and dating. “I studied so hard that two weeks before the CPA test, I couldn’t think.”
In January 1966, he passed the CPA test on the first try. Would you expect anything less?
In the same year, he completed his six-year military service in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
His next goal was to get a job with a multinational company, so he could return, for a bit, to Europe. The first firm to reply to dozens of applications was Avis Rent a Car, where in 1967 he was quickly hired, as audit manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, based in London. And he quickly advanced. When he suggested restructuring operations in Israel, they made him general manager in the country and told him to do it. More good work and higher revenues led him to become Mideast director and then vice president of Europe, Africa and the Mideast.
When he met Hassan Sayed Marei, son-in-law of Anwar Sadat, then the Egyptian president, they saw an opportunity to set up a multifaceted tourism joint venture, which prospered with the Sadat tie. But when Sadat was assassinated, he sold his stake and in 1985 moved back to Philadelphia.
Genovese was hired as an executive in the Philadelphia branch of AgustaWestland, an Italian helicopter maker suffering from what he called “Fiat Syndrome,” referring to why Fiat closed its U.S. operation in 1983 due the brand’s reputation for poor service. Upon joining, he proposed a consolidation plan for Agusta operations, then inefficiently scattered across the Philly area. His plan enhanced Agusta’s image and led to Agusta winning a federal contract to replace the US presidential helicopter fleet.
While at AgustaWestland, he founded the Alliance of Italian-American Associations “to show the strength” of 56 member groups and the region’s 2.5 million Italians. One important mission of the group, which has since collapsed, was to combat negative coverage in the media. “Give us balanced coverage,” he recalled telling editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Tell your readers what we Italians have contributed – in ingenuity, engineering, music, honesty, family, food and art.”
When he retired from paid work in 2010, he and his wife Linda moved to Florida, but he could not stop do-good work. He was appointed Italy’s consular correspondent in Tampa, where he promoted the assets of Italy and ethics of Italians. As Italy’s representative, he hosted for six years the international Holocaust commemoration in Tampa with the participation of all diplomats in Florida and the local community.
“My concept for the Italian community was this: We are guests in this country. We know that this country is an unusual country which allows anyone to succeed. Anyone, but only if you work very hard and follow the rules. That was my concept and what I was trying to stress upon the community.”
The Florida weather led them to return to the Philadelphia area in 2019.
They now live in Riddle Village in Media, which they consider a premier facility in the continued care retirement industry. “It feels like living living in five-star hotel,” he said.
At Riddle Village, he founded the Golden Age Club, Delco, which celebrates residents who reach milestone ages, starting at 75, at five-year increments. At each quarterly gathering, the celebrants get a sash, life membership and a rum cake that he bakes.
He carries two business cards, one as club president and another listing Cavaliere Ufficiale, member of the Cavalier Society of Philadelphia, Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy and legacy member of the Consular Corps Association of Philadelphia. “I have to keep busy,” said Genovese, 87 years young.
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