Longtime Parade Executive Director Patrick Gualtieri (1945 ~ 2015)
“IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT PURPOSE, YOU’VE GOT NOTHING”
The veterans community says farewell to a Parade icon
O
n July 21, 2015,
New York City’s
veterans community lost our
longtime
colleague and dear
friend Patrick
“Pat” Gualtieri.
Pat was instrumental in
bringing the United War
Veterans Council and the
NYC Veterans Day Parade
(America’s Parade) to the
level of prominence they
currently enjoy. In doing
so, he helped veterans everywhere have a greater
public voice in New York
City and across America.
Born and raised in
Brooklyn, Pat served in the
U.S. Army from 1966-68,
including a one-year tour
in Vietnam during the Tet
Offensive.
He once described lying in the jungle watching
as an American gunship,
rained fire on North Vietnamese during Tet. “I had
mixed feelings, happy to be
alive, yet saddened that so
many would die.”
After a career in event
production in Los Angeles, Pat returned to New
York City in 2000 to help
organize the struggling
Veterans Day Parade.
As executive director of
the United War Veterans
Council, producers of the
parade, he helped build the
annual event into America’s Parade, the largest
celebration of service in the
nation.
The parade now includes
more than 20,000 participants, with hundreds of
thousands of spectators
lining Fifth Avenue on November 11, a TV broadcast,
and nationwide internet
stream.
“The veterans community mourns the loss of
a giant, who devoted his
life to honoring those who
served,” said Vincent McGowan, founding president of the United War
Veterans Council. “Pat’s
boundless energy and unflagging good will helped
drive our efforts to shape a
world-class effort to honor
service on November 11
and every day of the year.”
Yet Pat’s legacy can also
be felt on a smaller, intimate scale, in his thousands of individual interactions with veterans and
civilians alike. To those
who had served, he was
an tireless advocate and
loudspeaker for their issues and stories. For those
who had never worn a uniform, he was an inspiring
leader who welcomed and
encouraged their efforts to
give back to our veterans
and military.
We salute Pat, we remember him, and we honor him by building on the
foundation he helped lay,
this year and every year to
come.
NOVEMBER 11, 2015
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