Michael Gibbons, president of the Ireland-U.S. Council, has been named grand marshal of the 2009 New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Gibbons will lead some 250,000 marchers up Fifth Avenue on March 17 next year for the 248th staging of the world's oldest and largest civic parade.

Raised in an Irish neighborhood in the Bronx, Gibbons' Irish father, who hailed from Co. Mayo, was a union man all the way and disapproved when his son gave up a night job he had at Railway Express on Manhattan's West Side because of all the seniority and benefits he would lose.

Gibbons' days were spent studying at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, with two friends of note - Peter King, the well-known Republican congressman from Long Island, and John Sharkey, who went on to a top career at MCI.

Gibbon's mother was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada of Scotch-Irish descent.

"As a young boy I watched my mother wrap gifts of food and clothing to send to our Irish relatives who were having a hard time. I've always gotten so much out of being Irish. It's a rich vein in my life," Gibbons told Irish America magazine in 2005.

He graduated from St. Francis College and served in the U.S. Navy.

In 1967, he joined Estee Lauder, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin-care, makeup, fragrance and hair-care products. In his career there, he served as vice president of Clinique and general manager of Aramis.

He retired as an executive vice president and general manager in 2007.

Gibbons is currently the president of the Ireland-U.S. Council, a non-profit business organization dedicated to promoting business bonds and commercial connections between Ireland and the U.S.

He is also a director of Flax Trust America, a member of the Mayo Society and director of the Irish institute.

Gibbons is also a member of the Taoiseach's Economic Advisory Board in the U.S., the former chairman of the International Center in New York, a private, not-for-profit organization that welcomes and assists immigrants and refugees to America.

He is a past-director of the American Ireland Fund, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Foundation and the former co-chairman of the Knights of St. Patrick.

Before joining the Lauder ranks in 1967, the young Mike Gibbons had a number of jobs, including a stint as a salesman for Domino Sugar. Food rationing during the war was a common practice, and a treat such as sugar was a particularly coveted item.

Gibbons told Irish America, "My mother couldn't get sugar during the war, which she always remembered. But when I worked for Domino I used to get plenty of it for her.

"So she'd always put it in a closet and break it out on special occasions. I must have been out of Domino for 10 years, and I had all this soap and other things from Estee Lauder that I decided to give to her. I had a case of soap that I put in her closet, and what do I see in there only all the old Domino sugar!"

Putting his career in the sugar industry behind him and taking up post with Estee Lauder, Gibbons wasn't long shooting up the ranks to become executive vice president of the company.

The Ireland-U.S. Council incoming president Dennis D. Swanson said in a press release on Tuesday that the organization is delighted that Gibbons has been selected as the grand marshal.

"He is a man who is beloved in New York's Irish American community," he said.

"He is an outstanding American who has devoted a huge amount of his considerable energy and charisma to building enduring and durable ties between Ireland and America. We know that his selection will be a widely popular one, not just among members and friends of this council, but throughout the community of businesses and organizations that shape the transatlantic commercial connections between Ireland and America."

Gibbons will be accompanied on the big day by his wife, Cynthia, and their four children and four grandchildren.

They currently reside in Palm Beach, Florida and in Carmel, New York.