Armand Ceritano

Armando Ceritano (May 4, 1931 – May 2, 1990) was an Italian-born American businessman. He moved to the U.S. at age 17 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he began working in construction. He eventually started his own bricklaying business and in the 1970s, he entered the wine business. He became known for his Ceritano Wines advertisements which were frequently featured on television in the Philadelphia-area. In 1976, he became the owner of the Philadelphia Hilton Inn; however, within a few years, he had to declare for bankruptcy and lost the hotel and his business.

Early life Ceritano was born on May 4, 1931, in Castel Castagna, in the Abruzzi region of Italy. He was the youngest of five brothers and spent his early years as a shepherd. Ceritano's father worked as a stonemason. The Courier-Post noted that in Italy, "His shelter was a crude hut. His food was basic bread and wine. His entertainment was a homemade whistle." In 1948, when he was 17, he immigrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he arrived with no money and "came wearing a suit purchased with 30 days of harvesting wheat and 20 pounds of beans, and [carried] a cardboard suitcase that had cost 10 days of harvesting wheat."

Following his arrival, Ceritano decided to become a tailor, after "seeing many fields, but no sheep." He helped lead the merger of the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company with the rival Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company to form the Philadelphia Opera Company, which Ceritano then was vice president of. After convincing Rinaldi, Ceritano "brought him to America, sent him to school, and formed a one-man production and record company," according to The Inquirer. The Inquirer noted that "It was swampy land, and the sale was made conditional upon Cherry Hill's agreeing to construct a draining ditch that Ceritano needed before he could get approval to build."

Starting in 1975, Ceritano began to produce advertisements for his Ceritano Wines business, with them frequently being featured on television and radio in the Philadelphia-area. The Inquirer stated that "the face and voice proved to be unforgettable," and led to what he called his "monstrosity of a recognition factor." His advertisements were often featured at Philadelphia Phillies games, and in 1976, he purchased 31,000 tickets for their playoff games against the Cincinnati Reds and gave them away. The Inn, which had already served as headquarters for his wine business, was operating at a significant loss and was set to be foreclosed when Ceritano expressed interest. At the same time, the workers at the Hilton Inn went on strike, declaring that Ceritano had not paid them benefits and was not honoring their contracts; a judge that month ruled Ceritano to "fire the nonunion workers whom he hired to replace the strikers and to rehire as many of the union employees as possible." Two months later, on September 16, a ruling was made in his court case against the City of Philadelphia, with district court judge Barry M. Weinberg ordering Ceritano to turn over his 49 shares of Ceritano Wines, Inc., to the city. The same day, a federal bankruptcy judge appointed a trustee who gave operating control of the Inn to a Pittsburgh hotel firm. Later, on September 29, the judge ordered that Ceritano be barred from the hotel, after a lawyer for the trustee said that Ceritano had "disrupted" the hotel's operations. In 1978, his case against Fidelity Bank was closed with foreclosure. A motion by Fidelity to auction his house at sheriff's sale was approved by a Superior Court judge in June 1979, and his attempt to block the sale of his house failed in September.

By 1981, Ceritano was described in the Courier-Post as "the former Italian shepherd boy who became a millionaire who became a pauper ... Today, he walks around with $5 in his wallet, a briefcase full of bankruptcy papers and an eviction notice from his Maple Shade apartment in his back pocket." He was employed selling condominiums for Ellis Construction Co. by 1982.

Personal life and death Ceritano met Frances Cini, the sister of singer Al Martino, while on a blind date in 1951, and the two married the following year. With her, Ceritano had three daughters. He spent his last years in New Jersey and died on May 2, 1990, in Woodbury, at the age of 58, due to heart failure. He was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.