Vincent J. Naimoli, chairman emeritus and founder of the Tampa Bay Rays, entered the national spotlight last fall when the team he had nurtured for almost a decade played in the World Series. This fall, Naimoli published Business, Baseball & Beyond (StarGroup International, 2009), which traces his roots from his childhood in a poor, working-class neighborhood in Paterson, New Jersey to the creation of a Fortune 500 business empire and a foray into the world of professional sports.

The NJIT community as well as the public is invited to meet Naimoli on Dec. 3, 2009, from 10:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m., in NJIT’s Campus Center for an exclusive book signing.  For this special event, the book’s purchase price has been discounted to $20 for one book; $35 for two books, at a cost below list price thanks to the generosity of Naimoli.

Naimoli has focused on the game’s welfare while building a franchise from within. In addition to serving on Major League Baseball’s committees for international relations, legislative affairs and equal opportunity, he was named to a blue ribbon task force on baseball economics in January 1999.  

As chief executive officer of Anchor Industries International, Naimoli was voted 1995 Florida Entrepreneur of the Year in the “turnaround” category. In 1999, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. On May 8, 2004, he was inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame and was chosen as an Honorary Chief Master Sergeant at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

He has extensively participated in advisory groups and fund-raising initiatives at NJIT, where he is a member of the Board of Overseers, as well as at the University of Notre Dame and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Additionally, he has received numerous community-service honors and is involved in many charitable projects, including a program to revive baseball in the inner cities and the establishment of the Tampa Bay Rays of Hope Foundation, the first Bridging the Bay Award in 1996 and the NJIT Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2007.  

Naimoli, of Tampa, Fla., graduated from NJIT in 1962 with an master of science in mechanical engineering. He also holds a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering  from the University of Notre Dame and an master of business administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

In recognition of his exceptional career as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, business and civic leader and for service as an NJIT Overseer, the university conferred the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, upon Naimoli at the 2009 commencement ceremony.

Contact: Sheryl Weinstein, public relations director, NJIT (973-596-3436)