In 1909, Assemblyman Rocco Maria Marasco led the crusade to petition New York State to declare Columbus Day a statewide holiday. That Oct. 12, he served as the grand marshal for the inaugural Columbus Day parade up Fifth Ave. He was my great-grandfather.

Today, 117 years later, I, too, will be marching in the same Columbus Day parade. And this year, I, as well, am running for election to the New York State Assembly.

My great-grandfather, orphaned as a boy, immigrated to the United States from Savoia di Lucania, Italy. He started his life here as a bootblack, cleaning, polishing and waxing leather boots for pedestrians.

In due course, he invested his hard-earned savings and bought properties, chiefly apartment buildings, accumulating enough to grow wealthy as a real estate developer. He rose to be vice president of the Italian Savings Bank and donated........

© NY Daily News