John Catsimatidis has built a supermarket empire in New York City. Now he wants to be the city’s next mayor.

With the support of former Gov. George Pataki, Catsimatidis is battling Joe Lhota for a spot atop the Republican ticket.

The Common Good is proud to present an evening reception with Catsimatidis as part of our NYC Mayoral Candidate Series.

About John Catsimatidis

John Catsimatidis was born on the Greek Island of Nisyros in 1948 and 6 months later his parents emigrated to New York City. He was educated in both the parochial and public school systems earning his high school diploma from Brooklyn Tech. Catsimatidis enrolled in New York University to study electrical engineering; going to school during the day and working in a small grocery store on nights and weekends to help his parents pay the bills. He dropped out of school to work full time. By his 25th birthday he already had 10 Red Apple Supermarkets. Four decades later the Red Apple Group has evolved into a diversified corporation that has holdings in the energy, aviation, retail and real estate sectors and over 8,000 employees.