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MEET THE STAFF
When completed, this page
will feature photographs and biographies of the staff of the Italian
Tribune. This information will be added as it becomes available. For
now, please enjoy this tribute to Ace Alagna, former publisher of the
Italian Tribune.
A.J.
Buddy Fortunato, Publisher
Joan Alagna, Managing Editor
Ace
Alagna, Publisher Emeritus
Col. Frank Carlone,
Circulation Director
Carl Houser III, Art Director
Carl Houser Jr., National Advertising Director
Rachele D'Emidio Bennett, Associate Editor
In Loving Memory
Ace
Alagna,
Publisher Emeritus
 Ace Alagna, former publisher of the Italian
Tribune, has long been in the public eye. His 50 years of experience in the field of
photographic arts, his camera technique, and his artistic temperament have earned him a
national reputation as an outstanding cameraman. As a member of the White House Press
Corps, he was assigned to five United States presidents including Harry Truman, Dwight
Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.
1999 marks the thirtieth year in
which Mr. Alagna has been the owner/publisher of the Italian Tribune. Since 1931,
the Italian Tribune, based in Newark NJ, has been one of the country’s largest
and most influential Italian American newspapers. While the vast majority of its readers
are in New Jersey and the Northeast, the paper – published every Thursday – is
mailed across the United States and to Italy. The paper prints many features similar to
those found in daily newspapers while including information of particular interest to
Italian Americans – such as Italian news and history, recipes, language lessons, and
local cultural happenings. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Alagna, the Italian Tribune
has been, and continues to be, a constant source of enjoyment for thousands of proud
Italian Americans who wish to enjoy the best their culture has to offer.
For nearly three decades, Mr.
Alagna and his newspaper have been the sole sponsors of the Columbus Day Parade in Newark.
Thanks to his wide circle of friends in the entertainment world, he has brought to
Newark’s "Little Italy" some of this nation’s most distinguished
celebrities. People such as Joe DiMaggio, Bob and Delores (DeFini) Hope, Tony Bennett,
Tommy Lasorda, and Connie Francis have served as Grand Marshals of the parade. In
addition, awards for outstanding service on behalf of the Italian American community have
been bestowed by Mr. Alagna upon such individuals such as Frank Sinatra, George Bush, and
Jimmy Carter. In 1988, he was personally asked by the White House to host a Columbus Day
celebration in New Jersey for President Ronald Reagan. More than 3500 Italian Americans
came to West Orange to witness Mr. Alagna present the former President with the Columbus
Bronze Award.
Mr. Alagna has done much to
strengthen the bond between Italian Americans and their brethren in Italy. As the
executive director of the Italian Tribune News Earthquake Relief Fund (established in
1976), Mr. Alagna helped raise more than one million dollars in relief funds. The money
was used to build a children’s daycare center in the Udine region of northern Italy.
Four years later, when another earthquake devastated Italy, the Relief Fund gathered more
than two million dollars in donations. With this money, another children’s daycare
center was erected – this one in Palomonte. In addition, many survival supplies such
as blankets, heaters, and various medicines were provided to the Italian people. Mr.
Alagna also reinforces this bond by including Italian contingents in the Columbus Day
Parade.
However, Mr. Alagna has not limited
his humanitarian efforts to Italians and Italian Americans. After soliciting donations
from major pharmaceutical companies in America and dispensing the much-needed medicine to
needy Italians, there remained a surplus of medical supplies. After having been informed
that Poland was desperately in need of medicine, Mr. Alagna fought through miles of red
tape and arranged to have the surplus medicine given to the Polish people. Pope John Paul
II granted Mr. Alagna a special private audience to thank him on behalf of Poland, the
pope’s homeland.
Mr. Alagna has been the recipient
of numerous honors and awards throughout his illustrious career. On a recent tour of
Europe, he was given the Boys’ Towns of Italy Humanitarian Award in Rome. He also
received the National American Committee on Italian Migration Award for his outstanding
service on behalf of Italian immigrants. He was also presented with the National Boys
Clubs Bronze Keystone Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Award, and the John F. Kennedy
Library for Minorities Award. Mr. Alagna also received the 1991 Gold Medal of Honor as the
winner of the prestigious Rizzuto Award from UNICO National in Arizona.
Another of his honors is the Gold
Christopher Columbus Medallion, which he received for his untiring efforts in bringing
together nearly half a million Italian Americans at the Italian Tribune’s
first Columbus Day Celebration. He is also a recipient of the Four Chaplains Legion of
Honor Award. Most recently, Mr. Alagna was presented with the prestigious 1998 Ellis
Island Medal of Honor, given each year to men and women who have performed extraordinary
services on behalf of their ethnic heritage.
Thanks to his long and friendly
relationship with Walt Disney Studios, Mr. Alagna was selected to be the Grand Marshal for
the opening of the EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Alagna can open many doors, both
literally and figuratively. He has been presented with the Key to the Cities of Newark,
Atlantic City, and Hoboken in New Jersey; Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; New Orleans in
Louisiana; and Naples and Rome in Italy. In 1990, he was named an Honorary Citizen of New
Orleans and was presented with the city’s first Journalist Award.
Mr. Alagna’s most treasured
awards come from the Republic of Italy: the Cavaliere della Republica d’Italia in
1973 (a knighthood) and the Cavaliere Ufficiale in 1980, one of the highest honors
bestowed by the Italian government.
In addition, Mr. Alagna was
presented with the prestigious Knight of Malta, the highest honor bestowed on a lay person
by the Catholic Church. And, he was the first Italian American to receive the State of
Israel Award for his contributions to the brotherhood of nationalities.
Mr. Alagna was named commissioner
of the Bi-Centennial Committee in 1976 and was on the Gubernatorial Inaugural Commission
in New Jersey. In 1981, the Star Ledger, New Jersey’s largest daily newspaper,
selected Mr. Alagna as its "Jerseyan of the Week," a highly acclaimed
recognition. He was inducted into the National Italian American Hall of Fame in
1980. In
1985, New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean appointed Mr. Alagna, the first Italian American
Commissioner on the Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Commission in the State of New
Jersey.
Mr. Alagna is a member of Screen
Actors Guild of America, the Guild of Italian American Actors, and the American Film
Institute. Through the years, he has appeared in many major motion pictures and has
produced several documentaries about Italy.
Mr. Alagna’s parents emigrated
to the United States from Italy in 1900. His father, Mario Alagna, was a stonemason from
Sicily. His mother, Marianne Barbieri Alagna, grew up in Calabria. Mr. Alagna was born and
raised in Newark, New Jersey, where he met and married the former Josephine
Zuccarello.
They have been husband and wife for nearly fifty-four years and have four daughters and
seven grandchildren.
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