John Fitzpatrick: A man of the people

Irish American of the Year: John Fitzpatrick

Such is John’s reputation in the hospitality industry that he is in his second term as chairman of the New York Hotel Association. Its membership includes 245 of the finest hotels in the city, representing more than 65,000 rooms and 32,000 employees.  When he is not about the business of his hotels, John is a regular on the social scene in New York City and in the Hamptons where he has a weekend retreat. His name has been linked with a number of glamorous women, but he would be the first to admit that, for now at least, he is married to the job. On the morning of our interview, he is leaving for a  skiing holiday in the French Alps with friends from boyhood. He’s looking forward to it, but one can sense that he will enjoy it all the more in reflection – when he’s back at work in New York.  As he fends off calls and deals with last-minute business before he leaves for the airport, I’m struck by the fact that he is taking the time to call in a favor – a concert ticket for the daughter of a friend.

He is a warm, elegant man, with an easy manner and a knack for making people comfortable. These characteristics, the key to his success as a hotelier, were also useful when the peace process was moving warily towards the Good Friday Agreement, and he opened his hotel to the loyalists and unionists, for they are “Irish too.”

When his mother passed away, 16 years ago, John decided to commemorate her with an annual golf tournament. To date over $1 million has been raised for two specific causes: the Corrymeela Centre, County Antrim, which promotes peace and reconciliation between the Northern communities, and Barrettstown, County Wicklow, a place that provides leisure activities for children with serious illnesses.  To hear John talk about  these projects is to know that they deeply touch the heart.

In the words of HIllary Clinton, “John Fitzpatrick is the very best kind of Irishman, he is utterly committed [to peace in Northern Ireland] both as a businessman and as a great humanitarian. I am proud to know him.”  We too are proud to know John and to name him our Irish American of the Year.

 

 

 

 

 

P.H: Tell me about your early mentors.

 

My father was a huge mentor. He was what I would call an old-fashioned hotelier, in the sense that it was all about service, it was all about the customer. He’d always say to me, “Remember, no matter how big you get or how many hotels you have, you’re still an innkeeper. And if you remember that, you won’t go wrong.”

 

 

 

Did you always want to work in the hotel business?

​
Nster.com