Antonio
Di Paolo

ANTONIO DI PAOLO was born in Italy on October 31, 1877. He came to Camden in 1902. After working in a rug factory, he worked as a commission man for a banker for one and one-half years. During the late 1900s and 1910s Antonio DiPaolo engaged successfully in a variety of business pursuits. 1910 found him operating the saloon at 713 South 3rd Street, the corner of South 3rd and Pine. This bar became famous from the 1940s through the late 1970s as Vasco's, under the guidance of Vasco Canzanese and family. Also living with the family was his brother Rodolfo, then a carpenter, who would remain in the saloon business for many years. Antonio DiPaolo was still in the saloon business, and still living at 713 South 3rd street, as late as January of 1920. Prohibition and his banking enterprise would take him away from that line of work.

After organizing the Italian-American Building and Loan Association, in 1915, in 1919 Antonio DiPaolo found the First Italian Bank. In 1923 he dissolved this bank and founded the Victory Trust.  He was involved with many business and civic groups, was a leader in the fund raising drive that culminated in the building of the Walt Whitman Hotel at Broadway and Cooper Street, and was a director of the Camden Community Hotel Corporation, who held title to the property when it was built. By April of 1930 he had moved to 1800 Maple Avenue in Haddon Heights NJ.

Antonio Di Paolo was born in Montorio Al Vomano Teramo, Italy, October 31, 1877, the son of Sabatino Di Paolo, a tradesman, and Massimina (Di Carmina) Di Paolo. He began his education in the grammar schools of Italy, and completed it in what corresponds to an American first year high school. The elder Di Paolo came to this country in May, 1901, and in the following November, his family followed him here. Antonio Di Paolo began his business experience in America in the employ of Frees & Braisell, rug manufacturers. Subsequently, he worked as commission man for St. Vincent D'Ambrosio, banker, for one and one-half years. Later he entered a wholesale and retail grocery store in partnership with his father in Camden. In 1907, he went into business for himself, remaining until 1919, when he founded the First Italian Bank, of which he was the sole proprietor. In December, 1923, he founded the Victory Trust Company and dissolved the First Italian Bank, the trust company taking over the business of the other.

He is at present president of the Victory Trust Company. He is also the head of the Italian- American Building and Loan Association, which he organized in 1915, and is a director in the Camden First Italian Building and Loan Association, of which he was treasurer three years. He also handles real estate negotiations and is a steamship agent for several Atlantic and Pacific lines. He is on the Boy Scout Council of Camden, and was solicitor for the United States in the Victory and Liberty loan campaigns, and for the Red Cross in its Camden campaign. During the Camden Chamber of Commerce drive, he was captain of the team that obtained the greatest number of members. He is one of the directors of the Camden Community [Walt Whitman] Hotel, having been captain of the team, during its drive, that brought in the largest amount of money.

He is a former president of the Camden Lodge of the Sons of Italy, a charter member, organizer, and one of the former presidents of the Legion Felice Cavolletti, having held the presidency for six years; he belongs to the First Italian Republican Club, and is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Di Paolo married Maria Curti in Montorio Al Vomano Teramo, Italy, having returned thither for the purpose, on September 6, 1903. They have seven children: 

1. Virginia Agatha Dora, born May 23, 1904
2. Remo Virginio Dante, born April 2, 1908
3. Olga Rosa-Linda, born November 1, 1909
4. Guglieimo Sabatino Mario, born April 21, 1911
5. Mario-Francesco, born November 31, 1915
6. Linda Piave-Risorta, born June 24, 1918
7. Sabatino Marco Aurelio, born September 10, 1919