Nicholas D'Agostino, Sr.*
Class of 1982
- Founder and Chairman of the Executive Committee D'Agostino Supermarkets
I expected a good day's work for a good day's pay.
Nicholas D'Agostino was born in Bugnara, Italy, in 1910. In his early teens, he immigrated to New York, where he worked as a pushcart peddler and mill laborer.
He left the $24-a-week job to become a butcher's helper, where he made only $18, so that he could learn that trade. In 1932, he and his brother, Pasquale, opened a dry goods and grocery store at the corner of Manhattan's 83rd Street and Lexington Avenue. They invented the idea of combining meat and groceries as well as baked goods in their store.
The new "supermarket" concept burgeoned. Soon they added more stores, creating a D'Agostino chain. By 1996, there were 26 D'Agostino stores throughout New York City and suburban Westchester County, with annual sales of $200 million.
D'Agostino was widely known as a generous humanitarian. He served as vice chairman of the Cardinal's Committee for Catholic Charities, founded Boy's Towns and Girl's Towns of Italy, was a winner of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Award, and was a patron of a variety of city improvement projects.