Arthur E. Imperatore, Sr.*

Born in 1925 in West New York, New Jersey, Arthur Imperatore was the son of Italian immigrants who ran a small grocery store. He was the oldest of 5 brothers in a family of 10 children. At the age of 10, he delivered pickles for 50 cents a day. Later, he worked as a newspaper boy, delivery boy, bowling alley pin boy, and restaurant dishwasher. During high school, he often held three jobs at once.

After serving as a navigator aboard B-24s and B-29s during World War II, Imperatore planned to attend college on the GI bill. But when his four brothers bought two old Army trucks to start a business, he decided to join them as a full partner.

In the early days, the boys' mother served as the office staff, working from the kitchen telephone. The trucks were kept and serviced in the garage behind the house. Before long, the Imperatore Brothers Trucking Company became known nationally as A-P-A Transport Corp., headquartered in North Bergen, New Jersey. The company eventually grew to more than 3,500 tractor-trailers and at one point was the nation's fourth largest interstate freight trucking company.

During his career, Imperatore earned numerous awards and honors for his commitment to the community and to the free enterprise system. He and A-P-A were the first in the nation to receive the U.S. Senate Productivity Award for the "lowest operating costs and the highest ratio of profit to revenue in our industry in 20 years."

Imperatore developed 350 acres of Hudson River waterfront property into a residential and commercial community. In 1986, he launched NY Waterway, a ferry service that has carried thousands of commuters daily across the Hudson between Manhattan and Weehawken, New Jersey.

Imperatore liked to be remembered as someone who tried to make a better world in whatever way he could or as "someone who gave back." He was awed by the human mind and its resiliency. Even so, he said, "Few people realize their potential. I try to teach the people I work with that they're bigger than they think they are, that they're better than they know themselves to be, that they're more capable and more resourceful, and that they have much more potential than they feel they have."