Although well known for his company, Fugazy Limousine & Travel, William Denis Fugazy should be recognized for the tremendous charitable work he does throughout the year as well. Aside from being the acting President of the Coalition of Italo-American Associations, Fugazy is chairman for Annual New York Yankee Homecoming Dinner,Annual New York Giants Football Luncheon and the Forum Club.

Being Half Irish and Italian, Fugazy is probably best recognized for his charitable work as founder of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO).This organization presents the Ellis Island Medal of Honor to ethnic individuals that help make America a better place. Past recipients have included such notables as Presidents Bush, Reagan, and Clinton. The organization began as a result of a program to honor Americans while helping to rebuild Ellis Island. Lee lacocca and Fugazy noticed that among all the awards there were no awards for Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Afro-Americans or Catholics. With the aid of politicians Mario Biaggi and Tip O'Neill, Fugazy went to Washington to establish an organization to honor those that were overlooked. Since NECO was established in 1986, they have awarded over 1000 medal of honors to outstanding citizens.

This year's awards ceremony is scheduled for May 6th.The deciding committee must narrow down over 30,000 nominations to the nearly 100 they will present with awards.Although this is the most recognizable event for Fugazy, the number of charities he is involved with will keep him busy throughout the year.

His current project is called Children of the World Foundation.Twelve children from around the globe are brought to New York to have life saving open-heart surgery. Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and Westchester Medical Center offer the surgery free of charge while the Children of the World Foundation pays for the cost of airfare and traveling expenses for the families.Thus far the program has performed surgery on children from Dominican Republic, Siberia, United Russia Federation, and the Philippines.

Fugazy obviously cares for the children that this organization is able to help.This is probably a reflection of the family values and love Fugazy shows for his own family which includes five children and 14 grandchildren. Fugazy recently protested the popular HBO series The Sopranos due to the morality of the show and the impact on his grandchildren. Although most people thought his protest was made as an objection to the portrayal of Italians as mobsters, Fugazy felt the show has too much vulgarity and is not what he allows his grandchildren to watch.

Fugazy was born to an Irish mother and Italian father. His mother's family hails from County Cork while his father's side hails from Genoa, Italy. Fugazy's father was involved in banking and travel like his grandfather. Eventually the banking side of the business was sold to Bank of America and Fugazy ventured into transportation in addition to the travel business.

Although he followed his family into business, Fugazy made his own path founding charities such as the Silver Shield Foundation. Silver Shield is a foundation to help the children of New York City Police Officers, Firefighters, Port Authority Police, and New York State they wondered aloud about what money would go to the children of the officer. They discovered that the child had only the money that was left in the officer's pension fund. Since beginning the fund Fugazy says, "The program has helped put 120-130 boys and girls through college." Although he has helped set up such beneficial charities to help others, Fugazy remains proudest of his stint as a Navy Seal during World War II. Fugazy as a Scout Raider was responsible for blowing up mines in the South Pacific and even received a commendation as a young 20 year-old soldier. He has learned some valuable lessons over the years and enjoyed spending time with friends such as Bob Hope, Lee laccoca and Steinbrenner. He has also learned to remain well organized to stay on top of all the different organizations he is involved with and enjoy himself along the way.

--Kevin Smith