John Catsimatidis: From the lighthouse of Nisyros to the skyscraper of New York

There is an image that he repeats almost like a prayer whenever he is asked where he started: a man who lit a lantern on a rocky island in the Aegean Sea and ended up working in a New York restaurant to feed his family. That man was John Catsimatidis ‘ father. The distance between that lantern and the skyscrapers that today bear his son’s signature is, perhaps, the most accurate measurement of what the American dream means in its Greek version.

And yet, none of this could have happened. Catsimatidis could have been just another electrical engineer with a good education, a steady salary, and a career that would easily fit on a two-page resume. He was a breath away from his degree from NYU — eight credits, nothing in essence — when he made a decision that, if you were watching it at the time, would seem almost foolish. He dropped out of college to devote himself to a small grocery store .

The child who left six months ago

He was born in Nisyros in September 1948 and arrived in America at the age of six months , in the arms of a family that had nothing but their last name. His parents settled in West Harlem , without financial comfort, with his father — a lighthouse keeper in Greece — finding a job in a restaurant and working endless hours. A small apartment, a neighborhood that was not considered easy at the time, and a child who learned early on that money does not fall from the sky.

He was a good student — good enough to graduate from Brooklyn Technical High School and even receive an offer of admission to West Point, which he turned down to enroll at New York University with the destination, as it seemed, being an engineering firm.

The turn came quietly, in the form of a student paper. He started in a small grocery store on 137th Street, initially just to make money. But very quickly he began to treat the store as a small business laboratory : he observed what customers wanted, what products moved, how the merchandise was renewed, how quickly the capital was turned over. The owner recognized his instinct and suggested that he become a partner.

Ten thousand dollars that didn’t exist

To acquire 50% of the store, he needed $10,000 . He didn’t have it.

Rather than let the opportunity pass, he proposed what now seems like the first lesson of his entire career: to pay off the amount in ten monthly installments of $1,000 , using the company’s own profits. If he missed even one payment, he would lose his share. There was no safety net, no second chance.

The risk paid off. Sales increased, the installments were paid, and he began to suspect that he had something much bigger than a temporary job ahead of him. And then the moment of decision arrived. Last year at NYU, eight credits short of the goal. Logic dictated that he finish his studies, but John Catsimatidis left and never returned.

It’s a detail that’s been told for half a century, because it encapsulates his entire philosophy. He preferred ownership to title . The paper would secure him a position in a company. The store would secure him a key in his pocket.

Suppliers who became a bank

In the early 1970s, he opened his own store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and began building the Red Apple chain. Competition was fierce, margins were tight, and the obstacle was obvious because expansion required capital, and the shelves of new stores needed merchandise from day one.

Here he makes the second move that determines everything. Instead of turning to banks, he convinces suppliers to give him credit . The goods reach the shelves, he sells them, and pays them later. In this way, the suppliers themselves become a financing mechanism for his growth without interest rates, without guarantees, without external borrowing.

At the same time, he’s changing the rules of the game on the shelf itself. He keeps stores open late, seven days a week , offers free delivery and cashes checks for his customers. Today, all of this sounds obvious. Back then, it was revolutionary.

The result comes with a speed that surprises even today. By the age of 25 he has ten supermarkets in Manhattan, debt-free , with sales of around $25 million a year and a personal income of one million. The child of a Greek immigrant is now a millionaire. And instead of stopping, he turns his gaze to the city itself.

When everyone left, he would buy

In the mid-1970s, New York City was going through one of the worst economic crises in its history. Crime was soaring, businesses were closing, neighborhoods were declining, and real estate was being viewed by investors as a burden rather than an asset.

Catsimatidis went against the grain. In 1977, he invested about $5 million of his supermarket profits in Manhattan real estate. Five years later, according to him, their value reached $ 100 million .

Interestingly, he never claimed to have predicted some grand renaissance for the city. He has said, with disarming simplicity, that he simply had to find somewhere to put the money his business generated. But the result was a game-changer: the retailer became a real estate investor .

Meanwhile, the chain continued to grow. By the early 1980s, it had over 25 stores in Manhattan and the Bronx with annual sales of around $40 million. By 1985, sales had reached $ 110 million .

The failure that led him to oil

A few years later, his love for airplanes turned into a business adventure. He got a pilot’s license , developed an aviation business and gradually built a fleet of dozens of aircraft. Success made him bolder. In 1984, he bought Capitol Air .

This time he makes a mistake. The company goes bankrupt and the investment is recorded as one of the most serious failures of his career.

But from the wreckage, the next opportunity emerges. As he tries to deal with the aftermath, he comes into contact with United Refining , an equally troubled oil company with refineries in Pennsylvania and Alabama. He is not an oilman, he has no experience in refining. But he sees undervalued assets and decides, in 1986, to take control.

The move proves to be decisive, as oil becomes one of the main pillars of his fortune. A man who sold food, entered energy, not decorations.

1986 and the market that changed its name

The same year also brings a major move into retail. Red Apple acquires 36 Gristedes supermarkets and eleven affiliated grocery stores. The name Gristedes is still synonymous with Manhattan today. A chain that for generations of New Yorkers is simply “the corner supermarket.”

The Red Apple Group gradually ceased to be a retail company. Its portfolio included real estate, energy, oil, hundreds of gas stations, financial holdings, aviation activities and, later, media . Its footprint stretched from Manhattan to Florida , where the group even signed the tallest tower in downtown St. Petersburg.

The pattern is now established and evident in every move. He doesn’t wait to find the perfect market. He moves from industry to industry whenever he spots assets, cash flows, or opportunities that he believes are undervalued. Knowledge of the subject comes second; recognition of value comes first.

On the airwaves, every night

The most peculiar chapter of his journey has nothing to do with money but with microphones . Katsimatidis hosts two radio shows — one Sunday and one evening — and in 2019 he announced the deal to acquire the legendary station WABC , which was completed in March 2020.

He didn’t buy a station. He bought a piece of New York mythology, and then he kept buying, adding other stations in the area to his group. At 77, a billionaire who could play golf, walks into the studio almost every day.

Nisyros who remained present

Although he grew up essentially as a New Yorker, his Greek heritage remained a constant part of his public life. He maintained close ties with the Greek-American community and the Orthodox Church , participating in charitable and social initiatives and remaining particularly active in issues of the Greek diaspora. From the Greek Independence Parade on Fifth Avenue to the scholarships he has funded for decades at American universities. To now be vice president of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Holy Archdiocese of America.

Over the years, his name began to appear not only in the business pages but also in the city’s political world. In 2013 , he ran for the Republican nomination for mayor of New York. He didn’t win — he lost in the primaries, but won in Staten Island — but by then politics was already a place where he had strong connections. And a contradiction that characterizes him: he was for years a major donor to the Democrats before moving clearly to the Republican camp.

The old acquaintance from New York

Among these acquaintances is Donald Trump . The two men have known each other for decades, from the time they moved in the same circles of the city’s business and social life, long before Trump decided to run for president.

Their starting points, however, could hardly be more different. One grew up in an already wealthy real estate family. The other in a Harlem apartment, with a father who worked in a restaurant. Over the years, the Greek-American businessman has evolved into an outspoken supporter of Trump, maintaining close access to his political and social circle.

The supermarket war

His latest — and perhaps fiercest — battle is now being waged in the very city that made him rich. At issue is the new New York City government’s plan for municipal supermarkets , one in every apartment building in the city, with basic food items at significantly lower prices.

His reaction has been immediate and relentless. He argues that stores that rely on taxpayers and pay no rent or taxes create unfair competition against private businesses, and that the first to be hit will be small neighborhood grocers. He has warned of job losses and has left open the possibility of moving operations out of town.

The line that was never straight

The easy version of his story is that a child of immigrants started from scratch and became a billionaire, with a fortune estimated today at several billion dollars. The more interesting version is another.

Catsimatidis never followed a straight line . Each business begat the next, each market opened a different door, and even failures acted as detours to something bigger. The grocery store brought the supermarkets. The supermarkets brought real estate. Airplanes brought failure. And failure brought oil.

He is not an easy figure to assess. His statements have provoked strong reactions, his political alliances have changed sides, and the way he defends his interests leaves no room for diplomacy. He is, in every sense, controversial and does not seem particularly bothered by it.

What is not in doubt is the trajectory. It all started with a decision that at the time seemed more like resignation than a business plan. Eight credits short of graduation, the young man from Nisyros left NYU and returned to the grocery store. He never got his degree. His father’s torch, however, seems not to have gone out.

Maximos Th. Kyprianou