Anthony A. Martino http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/f...9006543r1.html For those of you that do not know Tony passed away on Sunday.
I found out about this the other day and fact is I can not seem to get this out of my head. Tony’s life was so much bigger then most would ever know and his impact of inspiration to me is endless. His life is proof that if you work hard and work smart the sky is the limit.
As a little boy my father kept a boat in Harbor Cove Marina in Somers Point New Jersey. This is where I first met Tony and Cardinal Joe to be honest as a little kid it was amazing to be in his presence. It is not to often in life you get to speak with a man who is such and incredible business man. I worked the fuel docs back then and would always get excited to see his boat come around the corner to fuel up. He was always very kind to me and always stopped to say hello to me as a young man. While the boat was getting fueled up he would sit and talk to us about how the fishing was going offshore.
Then this is the part that really gets me, 20 years later I run into Cardinal Joe and Tony, 20 some years later these 2 guys hanging out it felt like I was 14 years old again. We all spoke for awhile then went on our way. Months later I get a phone call from Tony’s marketing staff and got the opportunity to go to Maaco Enterprises and tell Tony and his staff about SportFishermen.com. Tony sat in on the meeting and we talked fishing and more fishing while the rest of the staff stood by to accomplish this meeting. He then walked us around the facility and talked and talked. For those of you that don’t know Tony was the owner of Cardinal Yachts who is a very big sponsor of this site.
I spoke to Tony about my dreams and visions of SportFishermen.com and jumped onboard with out a second thought.
Over the next few months I would hang out on some nice weekend afternoons down at cardinal and just shoot the shit with him and Joe. Every minute spent with Tony was a lesson as this man hands down knows business. The part that blew me away was he spent time talking to me. Then in Dec. of this year I got a call from Joe saying that Tony wanted to have dinner with some of his staff and myself. I was shocked and nervous at the same time. I went to the dinner and sat down and we all talked for hours. The most incredible part of this dinner was the fact that Tony was interested in my abilities online. His staff and I spoke for hours about how the internet works and some of the in’s and outs.
I left that meeting that night feeling like a million dollars. I can not thank Tony enough for believing in me enough to bring me into his world for a brief time.
I guess my point of saying all this is: Never ever take for granted who you meet in life. Life passes us all by and you never know who will pop up from your journeys. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would share anymore in life with this man then filling his boat up with fuel. Tony had open eyes and gave people a chance and it did not matter what education you had he believed in people who believed in themselves.
You will be missed Tony and I can not thank you enough for the brief conversations we had as they ment more then you will ever know. Cardinal Joe keep your head up man and remember you have friends, my phone is on 24/7 man & I look forward to working with you and Cardinal Yachts for years to come and keeping the vision alive!
My condolences to you John , Cardinal Joe, and the whole Martino family. It's sad losing a person of his caliber, but it seems he has touched many peoples lives in positive ways.
My heart goes out to you John, Joe, and the Martino family. Tony will be remembered in our hearts as a caring father and friend to us all. Rest in peace Tony.
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