If you were set out to tell the stories of every great Italian and Italian American to leave their mark on human history, you could probably speak for a thousand years without even scratching the surface of such an illustrious list. And for businessman and philanthropist Robert Barbera, that’s exactly the task he has set out for himself.

At 89 years young, this proud Italian American dedicates each day, as he has since his boyhood in Depression-era Brooklyn, New York, to the promotion and promulgation of his Italian heritage. His immigrant parents taught him the value of hard work and the importance of family.  As a young man, Robert made his first stock investment when he was only four years out of high school in 1954, and he bought his first building in 1961.