My paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Brizzolara, was the youngest of four children. He was born into a prosperous Milanese family, in the late 1800's. His family owned textile mills and were involved in banking. The eldest son inherited the businesses, and so my grandfather decided to seek his fortune in the United States.He came to New York City, with some contacts, and eventually managed the New York offices for the family that owned Brioschi, a stomach antacid business based in Milano. At that time a unique product with dedicated Italian consumers. The offices were on Varick. Street in Manhattan. I was told years later by someone who had worked for them, that it was one of the only businesses hiring Italians at the time.
Later, my grandfather became president of the Italian-American Club of New York, and there he met my grandmother. She had come from Verona, and worked as a translator for Italian banks. They both were intensely frugal-- except for when, once a year, my grandfather would splurge on a new Cadillac.
They eventually saved enough to buy the company, Brioschi. Many of their friends, mostly Italians, worked in the ad business on Madison Avenue and created a memorable jingle that many people old enough, remember to this day. They had two boys—my father and uncle—who grew up to run the business. My grandfather was philanthropic in his older years, giving most to the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an institute that was a major supporter for Italian immigrants to the US. founded by Mother Cabrini, whom he had known in Italy.
At around the same time, my mother's father, David Church began his journey to the United States. He fled Ireland as a teenager, after—as I’ve been told— an IRA shooting. He came through Canada and ended up in New Jersey. My maternal grandmother Mary Murnane came from Ireland as a young girl and was a private cook for the actress Rosalind Russell, in Connecticut.
Some years later, at a dance school in Patterson, NJ, my parents met each-other.
Kim Brizzolara is a film producer and private investor; and serves as an advisor to several non-profit organizations. She is Executive Vice Chair of the Hamptons’ International Film Festival, where in 1999, she co-founded the signature program "Films of Conflict & Resolution", which she continues to oversee, Ms. Brizzolara is a Trustee of Glasgow Caledonian University/NYC, which focuses on sustainable business practices, and serves on the boards of the We are Family Foundation, Creative Visions, The Sunny Center/ Ireland for Exonerees, and the Women's Leadership Board at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
She started her career as a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer, and has written for numerous magazines and the New York Times. She later worked with Kerry Kennedy at the Robert Kennedy Center for Human Rights. Inspired by her Irish heritage, she focused philanthropically on the area of international conflict resolution., and is a Claddaugh Circle member of the irish Arts Center. She served as a grants maker for the Threshold Foundation, working on peace and national security issues; as acting director of the Coexistence Center at Baruch College School of Public Affairs, and worked on various political campaigns
Kim Brizzolara
