John Catsimatidis
John A. Catsimatidis (born September 7, 1948) is an American billionaire businessman and radio talk show host. He is the owner, president, chairman, and CEO of Gristedes Foods, the largest grocery chain in Manhattan, and the Red Apple Group, a real estate and aviation company with about $2 billion in holdings in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania.[2] He is also the chairman and CEO of the Red Apple Group subsidiary United Refining Company.[3] He hosts a Sunday morning talk-radio show on a number of stations along the east coast and Florida, including Washington DC, and hosts a live radio program which airs Wednesdays during drive time in the New York City metro area,[4] and entered radio station ownership in 2019 with his pending acquisition of WABC (AM) in New York City.[5] Catsimatidis was the runner-up to the Republican nomination for mayor of New York City in the 2013 election.
- John Catsimatidis is best known as the owner of New York City supermarket chain Gristedes.
- He also owns oil refinery United Refining in Pennsylvania, which he bought out of bankruptcy, and real estate in New York and beyond.
- He moved with his family from Greece to New York when he was an infant and grew up in an apartment in Harlem.
- He worked as a grocery clerk while attending New York University but dropped out for a chance to own a piece of the shop where he worked.
- He opened his own grocery store in 1969 and had 10 Red Apple stores by age 25.
