Philip Foglia

Philip F. Foglia (November 27, 1950 – April 21, 2020) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, civic activist, politician, and advocate for Italian-American rights issues. Most recently, Foglia led a campaign to construct a statue honoring Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-American Catholic nun more commonly known as Mother Cabrini, after the proposal was initially rejected by a New York City commission.

Biography Foglia, the son of a police detective, was raised in Belmont, a neighborhood of The Bronx with a large Italian American and Italian immigrant community.

Prosecution career Foglia was hired out of law school as a prosecutor for the office of the Bronx County District Attorney, where he prosecuted public corruption cases.

Italian American activism Philip Foglia became a major Italian American civic and community leader in the Bronx and New York City. Mother Cabrini, an Italian-born nun known for opening schools and hospitals in New York, is the patron saint of immigrants. Foglia, as head of the Italian-American Legal Defense and Higher Education Fund, called the decision an "insult" to Italian Americans and sent a letter of protest to First Lady McCray in September 2020. Cuomo pledged $750 thousand to build the statue. He also appointed Philip Foglia to an 19-member commission created to oversee the Cabrini memorial. In addition to Foglia, the commission members included Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and television journalist Maria Bartiromo.

In December 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the 19-member commission, including Foglia, announced that the statue honoring Mother Cabrini would be constructed in Battery Park in lower Manhattan. When completed, Cabrini's monument will be located adjacent to the Museum of Jewish Heritage alongside Battery Park's South Cove, overlooking the Statue of Liberty. The panel also considered an alternative site in Brooklyn Bridge Park, but ultimately chose the location in Battery Park.

Foglia, a resident of the Pelham Gardens neighborhood of the Bronx, became ill with COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City on March 22, 2020. He spent 28 days on a ventilator at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. After five weeks, his condition eventually improved enough that he was able to be taken off the ventilator, but his health rapidly declined soon afterward and he never recovered. Foglia died from COVID-19 on April 21, 2020, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Washington Heights, Manhattan, at the age of 69. He was survived by his wife of more than thirty years, Jacqueline, and their two sons, Philip Jr. and Louis.