Who Is Rocco Commisso – The Richest Person in New Jersey: Biography, Net Worth

Who Is Rocco Commisso – The Richest Person Of New Jersey. Photo: Football Italia

Who Is Rocco Commisso - Biography

Rocco Benito Commisso (born 25 November 1949) is an Italian American billionaire businessman and the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Mediacom, the fifth-largest cable television company in the US. As of 2011, the company is privately owned by Commisso.

He previously worked for companies including Cablevision, the Royal Bank of Canada, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Since 2017, Commisso has been the owner and chairman of the New York Cosmos, and since June 2019, the owner of the Italian football club ACF Fiorentina. He is the richest person in New Jersey, with a net worth of $7.1 Billion.

Rocco Commisso: Early Life & Education

Commisso, who was born in Calabria, Italy, immigrated to America when he was 12 years old. Commisso graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy High School in the Bronx and went on to study industrial engineering at Columbia University on a full undergraduate scholarship, earning his bachelor's degree in 1971. In 1975, he graduated from Columbia Business School with an MBA.

He won the business school service award, was elected president of the student body, and served as co-captain of Columbia's varsity football (soccer) team.

Rocco Commisso: Career

Photo: Forbes

Between 1967 and 1970, Commisso played soccer for the Columbia University Lions. He has earned All-Ivy League honors three times. Commisso was a part of a rookie team in 1967 that finished with an 8-0 undefeated record. The 1970 Columbia team that went 9-4-0 and qualified for the NCAA men's soccer tournament had Commisso as its co-captain. Commisso received numerous accolades for his talent and leadership throughout his college soccer career, which led to an invitation to try out for the US team for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

At Pfizer Inc., Commisso started his business career. He spent ten years in the financial sector after returning to Columbia and earning his business school degree, initially at Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase). He started collaborating with cable companies and other entertainment businesses in 1978 while working in Chase's corporate financing division. Later, he worked for Royal Bank of Canada, where he oversaw the bank's lending initiatives in the United States for the media and communications industries. He served as Cablevision Industries Corporation's Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Director from 1986 to 1995. At the time of its merger with Time Warner, Cablevision Industries had approximately 1.3 million subscribers and had risen from being the 25th to the 8th largest cable company in the United States during this time.

Photo: New York Cosmos

Since he started Mediacom Communications Corporation in his basement in 1995, Commisso has served as the company's chairman and chief executive officer. In the beginning, Mediacom bought cable systems in smaller, underserved American towns. Mediacom was made public by Commisso in 2000, and since then it has risen to become the eighth-largest cable operator in the US, with annual revenues of over $1.6 billion. The company then went private and became entirely owned by Commisso in March 2011. Since then, CableFAX magazine has named Mediacom the best cable provider in the US in 2016 and 2009.

The Columbia Spectator, the school's newspaper, included Commisso among the 250 greatest undergraduate alumni of all time in 2004, the 250th anniversary of Columbia's founding. He was also honored as a Select Distinguished Alumni by the school of business. Commisso is the winner of the National Italian American Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, the Innovator Award for Business Strategy from Cablevision magazine, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southwest Connecticut/New York Hudson Valley region.

He was admitted to the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2007. He co-chaired the Cable Show that was held in New Orleans in 2008. The highest accolade in the cable industry, the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership, was given to Commisso in 2009. He was named Business Person of the Year and inducted into the SUNY New Paltz School of Business Hall of Fame in 2010. Commisso was admitted into the Cable Center Hall of Fame in June 2011. He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2015.

Photo: Front Row Soccer

The Baker Athletics Complex soccer field at Columbia University was renamed the Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium on October 12, 2013. He was honored at the NYC Soccer Gala in 2015. Commisso was honored in the Special Category of the 2016 Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Commisso became the club's new chairman after acquiring a majority ownership stake in the soccer team New York Cosmos in January 2017. He relocated the team's games to MCU Park in Coney Island in his capacity as owner. The action was viewed as showing support for the team's league (the North American Soccer League), which was going through financial difficulties at the time. Several of the other offers made at the time were intended to close the team's franchise in order to keep it from continuing to pose a threat to the league's balance of power.

Photo: The New York Times

On June 6, 2019, the purchase of ACF Fiorentina by Commisso was formalized,. The purchase was finalized on June 24, 2019. It is believed that Commisso bought Fiorentina for somewhere between $150–200 million.

Rocco Commisso: Awards & Achievements

One of the 250 greatest Columbia University undergraduate alumni, according to the Columbia Spectator, was Rocco Commisso in 2004. He was selected as a Select Distinguished Alumni by the school of business.

He has received numerous honors throughout his career, including the National Italian American Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Innovator Award for Business Strategy from Cablevision magazine.

In 2007, Rocco was admitted into the Hall of Fame for Broadcasting and Cable. He was honored at the NYC Soccer Gala in 2015. He was admitted into the Special Category of the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame the following year.

In addition to being named Business Person of the Year and being inducted into the SUNY New Paltz School of Business Hall of Fame in 2010, he received the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership in 2009.

Rocco Commisso was inducted into the Cable Center Hall of Fame in June 2011. He was honored with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2015, and in 2018 he was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.

Rocco Commisso: Personal Life

Commisso is married to Catherine, they have two children and live in Saddle River, New Jersey. As of 2015, Catherine Commisso is head of corporate administration for Mediacom.

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