John Catsimatidis
John Catsimatidis
John A. Catsimatidisis a Greek-American billionaire businessman and radio talk show host. He is the owner, president, chairman, and CEO of Gristedes Foods, the largest grocery chain in Manhattan, and the Red Apple Group, a real estate and aviation company with about $700 million to $800 million in holdings in New York, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Catsimatidis also owns the Hellenic Times, a Greek-American newspaper based in Manhattan. He is also the chairman and CEO of the Red...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth7 September 1948
I promoted myself as a fusion ticket. I was running as a Republican liberal.
While in my late teens and in my 20s, I worked seven days a week, 20 hours a day. I worked my tail off.
You have to work at everything. You've got to make it work.
Bill Clinton told me that when he was 14, he shook John Kennedy's hand, and that inspired him to be president.
Everyone - whether it's the Jews, the Greeks, the Catholics - everybody is entitled to religious beliefs and entitled to their traditions.
What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world.
We have to draw the line someplace with all the pesticides being used by the farmers.
The reason I grew so fast in the supermarket business, without help of the banks in those days, was through my vendors. I convinced my vendors, the companies I was doing business with, if I did more business, they would do more business.
I am a real New Yorker... I didn't go to Harvard, I didn't go to Yale... I rooted for the Yankees; I didn't root for the Boston Red Sox.
One mentor I had taught me that people do what you inspect, not necessarily what you expect. In other words, if nobody is watching, there will be some slack off.
Nobody destroys people - people destroy themselves, and it's very, very sad.
I grew up on 135th Street. I grew up on the poor side of New York. I grew up in Harlem.
My father died in '97. But at least he lived until 93, so he saw my success.
We are teaching kids to fail. We need to teach our kids to succeed.