For 22 years, Anthony L. Gallo has stood shoulder to shoulder with area businesses boasting about all that Lorain County has to offer. Although he recognizes most really have no idea what he does as Lorain County Chamber of Commerce President — and that includes his three siblings — his commitment to family, giving back and promoting the area are unwavering.
With a career spent bringing businesses and resources together, the wine lover and baseball enthusiast embraces civic pride as well as his title as Mr. Lorain County. From California to Italy to his own backyard, it’s a badge he wears proudly and prominently.
As he prepares to retire in December 2025, he marvels over the progress and pitfalls the area has faced and overcome with a resilience only Northeast Ohioans can truly appreciate.
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I had visions of going to work at an ad agency in Cleveland. I found out after I graduated that ad agencies get interns that work the summer for free. I never had that capability because I worked three jobs to pay for my college to go back to college, so I found out right away that wasn't going to be a possibility.
In 1986, Cleveland was the third-largest print market in the United States. I went to work for Wilmot printing in Elyria, a family-owned business that started in 1929. Over 16 and a half years, I grew to love the company.
My customer at the printing company was the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce. They canceled a set of business cards for a person whose title was Director of Business Development.
Fun fact: I lived in the house I grew up in until I married my wife, Theresa. I had a baseball chair that I bought at a Rotary fundraiser and my clothes. Those were the only things that I brought to my marriage.
People think I go to parties, cut ribbons and drink wine as the Chamber President, and maybe that’s part of what I do.
I'm the person who connects the dots, so if you need something, I can get you in contact or go out of my way to make sure you get what you need through businesses that belong to the Chamber. My ears are always open, I'm always listening to see what people need, and always listening to see, ‘How can we help you be successful’?
When I started at the Chamber, U.S. Steel and KOBE Steel were in a partnership in Lorain and there were Japanese businessmen in Lorain on a non-stop basis. The Ariel Broadway Hotel as we know it today in downtown Lorain was the Spitzer Plaza Hotel. The USS/KOBE contingent had hotel rooms on one floor that were always reserved for the traveling Japanese businessman that would come in and out of Lorain County that they were conducting business at this new plant. Within a year of KOBE selling their interest, the hotel closed because there was no longer this cohesiveness and that was a big deal for downtown Lorain. It was a knife in their heart.
I like to tell people that I’m published. Harvard Education Press wrote a book called “America's Hidden Economic Engines,” that focused on community colleges and how they can drive shared prosperity. One of the community colleges that they chose was Lorain County Community College and I was given an opportunity to be interviewed. It was a big deal because it focused on how community colleges can be an economic driver in their community and what Chamber of Commerce doesn't want to have a partner like that?
Immigrants are the future for us. We're not going to discover gold in Lorain County and we're not going to discover oil, but if our workforce is here and willing and able to fill the jobs, then the businesses will come here.
The Chamber in partnership with the Small Business Development Center at Lorain County Community College gave away $457,000 to small businesses after we leveraged a $50,000 grant from The Nord Family Foundation. We got it up and running within two weeks after COVID shut everything down. Within four weeks, we were giving out the first checks. It was such a fast turnaround time that I did not think was even possible.
My uncle, Anthony J. Gallo (I'm Anthony L. Gallo) was killed in World War II at the age of 24 and received a Purple Heart posthumously. The Lorain County Veterans Service Commission named a grant in honor of him that will go on in perpetuity because the commission plans on funding it every year. So, my uncle's name will live on, and by default, my name will live on because my name is his name in honoring veteran-owned businesses.
“Amor fati” basically means love your fate and it’s something I live by because everything that happens to you makes you who you are. So, if you remove one good or one bad thing, you're not going to be the person you are today.
Mr. Lorain County started as a joke. I was charged with starting a young professionals group for the chamber, and a couple of the young members would refer to me as ‘Uncle Tony’ and a friend jokingly bestowed Mr. Lorain County on me instead. But then it's never gone away. I can't say it'll be on my headstone, but it's a title that I don't wear lightly. It tells me people appreciate me. Whether they say it jokingly or if they say it sarcastically, I wear that title very proudly.
My legacy is to be able to connect people, but also to reflect on our history and where we came from, while moving toward the future because the history is not coming back.
There are so many people who still focus on what we were and what we are no longer, but we need to focus on what we can be.
