Henry Mancini (1924-1994) With 20 Grammy Awards and 4 Oscars, no other musician has matched Mancini’s musical achievements. For 40 years he arranged, composed, conducted, and performed music for movies including Arabesque, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Moon River, The Pink Panther, The Silver Streak, Victor/Victoria, and Wait Until Dark, among many others. His scores for television include Peter Gunn, Newhart, The Thorn Birds, Remington Steel, and NBC News Election Night Coverage.

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) At seven years old, Menotti was composing songs and at eleven, he wrote his first opera. He was 13 – and had completed a second opera – when he began formal training at the Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He emigrated to America in 1927, received a music degree in 1933, and wrote an opera that was performed by the Metropolitan Opera which led to a commission from NBC to write the first opera for radio. A string of operas followed and in 1951, Menotti wrote Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera written specifically for television and the most frequently performed opera in the world.

Geraldine Ferraro (1935) The first woman nominated on a major party ticket as Vice President of the United States. Teaching during the day and studying law at night, Ferraro earned her law degree from Fordham University Law School, one of two women in her graduating class of 1960. She practiced law, then joined the New York District Attorney’s Office in Queens, establishing the Special Victims Bureau. In 1978, she was elected to the House of Representatives, serving three two-year terms, and in 1984 she was nominated as Vice Presidential candidate in Walter Mondale’s bid for Presidency. In her acceptance speech, she addressed her ethnicity by stating, "Tonight, the daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love …"

Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947) Known for his strong support of fair government, La Guardia was the first three-term Mayor of New York City, and is credited for changing its landscape and building the foundation for the city’s growth after the Depression. Born in New York, La Guardia spent his early years in the west and southwest with his family, following his father’s career as a member of an Infantry Band. The family moved to his mother’s homeland of Trieste, Austria-Hungary (now Italy) after his father retired in 1898. From 1901 to 1906 he served in the American Consular Service in Budapest, Hungary, Trieste.

After his retirement from racing in 1994, Andretti founded a winery. His interest in racing continues with the Mario Andretti Racing School, television and sports interviews, and his son and grandson who have followed Andretti’s lead.

Yogi Berra (1925) Recognized as one of the most popular baseball players in major-league history, Berra is as famous for his quotes, known as "yogi-isms," as he is for his sports career. His early interest in baseball led to playing in the minor league and signing with the New York Yankees. He joined the Navy during World War II, and after returning home, resumed playing with the Yankees in major league as a catcher and "bad-ball hitter." He played with the Yankees for 19 years – in 14 World Series – and was named to the All-Star team 15 times. He earned three Most Valuable Player Awards and ten World Championships (on a winning team), and holds numerous World Series records.

Berra managed the Yankees in 1964 and 1984-85, and in 1972 he became manager of the New York Mets. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and is a member of Major League Baseball's All-Century Team, and he was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. During his baseball career, Berra became known for his quotes of wisdom laced with humor. It’s said that he has more quotes in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations than any other sports figure. Among his most famous are "It ain't over 'til it's over," "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded," It's deja vu all over again," and "When you come to a fork in the road ... take it."

Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) Credited with leading the New York Yankees to nine World Championships, DiMaggio – known as "The Yankee Clipper" for his gracefulness on the field – gained fame for his baseball skills and his demeanor both on the field and off. His career started when he played in the Pacific Coast League and caught the eye of Yankees’ scouts. He started with the Yankees in 1936 and set American League rookie records for runs and triples, making the All-Star Team and playing in the World Series. In 1941, he captured America’s attention with a 56-game hitting streak. He played with the Yankees – and in four more World Series – until 1942 when he joined the army during World War II. He rejoined the Yankees in 1946, and went on to play in four more World Series.

With a natural inclination toward physics, at 27, Fermi became a professor in the field. His applications in experimentation and theoretical physics led him to become the first to split an atom. Arriving in America after he received the Nobel Prize, he continued his research in nuclear power generation, first at Columbia University in New York then at the University of Chicago. He became a professor at the Institute of Nuclear Studies, now named the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the element fermium is named after him. Fermi was involved in The Manhattan Project during World War II.

In 1956, President Eisenhower established the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award in honor of the Nobel Prize recipient. The National Accelerator Laboratory, established by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1967 was renamed Fermilab in 1974. In 1976, Fermi was inducted to the Inventors Hall of Fame, and in 2001, a United States postage stamp was issued to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Fermi’s birth.

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) [Honorary Member] His early experiments with Hertzian waves led him to conducting experiments at the family villa in Italy and later in England where he would file a patent for wireless telegraphy. Although Marconi shares the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics, he was acknowledged for his ability to put together a "practical, usable system" for wireless transmission of radio waves over long distances. Marconi did not immigrate to America, but in 1903, he established a wireless station in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, allowing President Theodore Roosevelt to send a Morse code message to King Edward VII of England – the first transatlantic message from a U. S. President to a European ruler. Marconi’s wireless communications (known as Marconigrams) were essential for transmitting messages to and from ships, and his application expanded from cruise ships to battleships when World War I began.

Antonio Meucci (1808-1896) [Honorary Member] Scientist, mechanical engineer, stage technician, business-owner, and the original holder of the patent for the forerunner of today’s telephone, in 2001 Meucci was recognized by the U. S. House of Representatives declaring that "… his work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged." Meucci traveled from Italy to Cuba, where he began working on his teletrofono in 1849. A year later, he was in America, supporting his experimentation with the teletrofono by establishing various business, among them the first paraffin candle factory in the world and the first lager beer factory in America. He received patents for "Effervescent Drinks" and "Sauce for Food" and he developed the precursor to coffee filters and the process for making postage stamps. Meucci befriended Garibaldi, who stayed with him in Staten Island, while Garibaldi was in exile from Italy and before he returned to Italy in 1854 to fight for unification.

YOUR FAVORITE ITALIAN

Celebrate the Day Honoring a Special Italian. End Thirty-One Days of Italians with a tribute to the Italian or Italian American who may not be on the list, but is greatly admired.

HONORABLE MENTIONS