JACKSON – Barry Calogero has had a challenging life. He faced abuse while growing up, but rose up to turn his life around becoming a family man, politician and even worked for the president of the United States.
The township resident was appointed as the state executive director of the New Jersey USDA Farm Service in 2017 by President Donald Trump and just when his life appeared to reach a pinnacle, he faced the devastating diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
Nonetheless, he sees his life as remarkable and decided to share his story with the world. His autobiography, “A Life Finally Worth Living…And Then Came Parkinson’s” was recently released. Calogero shared his thoughts about writing his book with The Jackson Times.
“All my life I have been told that I had told great stories about my life and I should share them as they could help other people,” the new author said. “I had a unique childhood. In many cases it was bad, abused by my father mentally and physically. He was an alcoholic.”
“My mother was a shut in, she had to stay in one room for many years. We lived over a bar in a dirty area of Queens under an elevated train station. It was dirty living conditions, rat infested, filthy and there was alcoholism and fighting. There was a time in my generation, the 60s and 70s where racial discrimination was really taking hold,” he added.
Calogero said, “my father was proud to try and raise his two sons as racists. Even at a young age I couldn’t understand why he would do something like that. By the age of 12, I became a punk realizing at that time in my life, that they only way you were going to get something was to take it.”
“I got into a lot of fights and because my dad was such a bad alcoholic, I had to take a lot of trains at 3 and 4 in the morning down to east New York and down to Bowery in Manhattan, and go to these after hour joints where my father would be spending his whole paycheck on cards and drinking,” he added.
“That led to fights and here I am 14-year-old kid fighting a 25-year-old construction worker. It wasn’t a fun or safe life,” Calogero said.
He noted that he told his own children that you can take something away from even a bad experience. “What I took from my father is how not to raise a family. I thank him for that and hope he has a good life in heaven but I don’t miss him that much.”
Former Jackson Councilman Barry Calogero’s autobiography “A Life Worth Living…And Then Came Parksinson’s!” has been released exploring his incredible life and the challenges he overcame. (Photo courtesy Barry Calogero)
On a happier note, he recalled meeting his future wife. “I met the love of my life Gina at 15 years old, a beautiful girl,” He noted that eight years earlier while he was fishing off a bridge in Queens, “I saw an Italian man who was there every week with his kids fishing. I would look at them and say I’d always want to have a family like that. He ended up being my father-in-law.”
He noted that when he got into his professional career, things changed. He became an executive vice president of a large brokerage firm, head of global operations. “I traveled the world lived in Africa, London, Mexico and lived in Canada for a year while my wife, God bless her, was raising the children.”
“We went into our relationship perfectly understanding that she wanted to be a housewife, raise the family in our beautiful home and I wanted to be the provider of those resources. We both respect each other to this day and that is why we have been married for 40 years,” Calogero said.
“Just as everything was going great, I got into politics,” he added. He became the chairman of the township zoning board. “I loved it. I say in my book after eight years of service as an elected public official and another eight years as a zoning board chairman and other boards where you are not elected but appointed, I put in 16 years into a town I knew nothing of.”
He added, “I loved it. It is a great town and I really had a connection with the residents. They had a connection with me. We did good work together but then things started to change. I got diagnosed with Parkinson’s. The dynamics of the town required a lot more effort that I was unable to afford at that time.”
At this time, he was also working for President Trump and was serving as councilman. “It broke my heart because I loved both.” He said while serving on council for eight years, “we never gave ourselves a raise.”
“These are all the components that have come to shape my life along with my next obstacle which was Parkinson’s,” he noted. He also recalled the surprising phone call he received from “the White House. I never expected that. I picked it up and a woman asked me for a whole lot of information. I told her I had no qualifications to serve in Agriculture and she said yes but you have managed very large groups very effectively, you have cost cut very effectively, you are a professional and know how to deal with people.”
He was told if he turned it down, he’d be asked to come to Washington and explain to President Trump why he was refusing the position. “How do you say no to that?”
Becoming a writer was a challenge and he recalled it was a lesson in discipline and after writing it, “you have to get a publisher and an editor.”
His book was released on November 26. “You can now go to any dot com bookstore and you’ll see my book in there. “I recently woke up to an amazing review in Amazon, five starts out of five stars: ‘extremely well written-a poignant page turner that is a must read. The positive spin he places on dealing with this devastating illness is truly awe inspiring,’” Calogero quoted.
While coping with Parkinson’s disease is difficult, Calogero said he will enjoy life and all it offers surrounded by his friends, his wife, three children and one grandchild cherishing each day.. He also noted that wouldn’t rule out the possibility of returning to local politics someday.
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