Horatio Alger Award to Terlato

Anthony Terlato of Paterno Wines International in Lake Bluff received a 2006 Horatio Alger Award in Washington, D.C. over the weekend for overcoming adversity and humble beginnings to achieve success. Terlato, a Lake Forest resident, said he was surprised by the honor and described the ceremony as "marvelous."
   As an award recipient, Terlato was inducted as a lifetime member into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a challenge he said he welcomes.
   "I'll stay involved," he said of the association, which sponsors more than $5 million in need-based college scholarships annually to high school seniors.
   "It was an incredible honor (to receive the award), but the wonderful thing about it is what's going to be accomplished by the Horatio Alger Association," Terlato said. He described meeting some of the more than 100 high school seniors who won scholarships as "energizing." Working with them "makes you feel good," he added.
   In his speech to more than 500 who attended the banquet, Terlato told the high school seniors they "have to work hard, have to have a passion, have to love it and they can't be sidetracked. Whether you're born rich or poor, the only thing that matters in life is what you do."
   The son of an Italian immigrant, Terlato was born in Brooklyn in 1934. Growing up during the Great Depression, Terlato worked throughout his school years, first delivering newspapers as a boy, later working in a grocery store as a teenager and as a butcher's helper while in college. After marrying, Terlato helped turn his father-in-law's wine-bottling business into one of the largest distributors of fine wines in the country.
   Terlato is among the nine outstanding individuals chosen to be recipients of the award this year. He joins such notable past recipients as Dr. Maya Angelou, former Senator Robert Dole, Rev. Billy Graham, and Lake Bluff resident Jack Sandner, who is the retired chairman of the board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

- By Linda Blaser
©2006 Lake Forester.

A Toast to the Winner

Few residents are able to say they've been honored in our nation's capital. Anthony Terlato recently joined that select group.
   Terlato, chairman of the Terlato Wine Group and Paterno Wines International in Lake Bluff, received a 2006 Horatio Alger Award in Washington, D.C. over the weekend.
   The Lake Forest resident, who was inducted as a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, delivered newspapers as a boy, worked in a grocery store as a teenager and served as a butcher's helper while in college. Since then, he has helped turn his father-in-law's wine-bottling business into one of the largest importers of fine wine in the country and deserves credit for bringing Pinot Grigio to the United States.
   Let's raise a glass to honor the Horatio Alger Award winner.

- Editorial By David Sweet
©2006 Lake Forester.