N. J. man's childhood lessons bear fruit

Staff Writer

Guy F. Tozzoli has some rules about life.

First, there's always a better way to do anything. Second, don't run to catch up with everyone else - get out in front of them. Third, you need to keep up with technology to stay competitive. And, most important, bringing people together for business is a good way to promote understanding� and peace.

These principles, as well as others, are rooted in Tozzoli's childhood, but they have played a major role in shaping his career. Today, they all come together in his work promoting international trade.

Tozzoli, 76, of Westwood, who has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize for this work encouraging peace through trade, is a founder and President of the World Trade Centers Association a non-profit, non-political association dedicated to expanding world trade. He also is the former director of world trade for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and led the planning, construction, and operation of the World Trade Center in Manhattan in the 1960's and 1970's.

As president of the World Trade Centers Association, Tozzoli has helped establish trade centers in cities around the world and helped to develop technology to facilitate trade. He also has sought to foster peace through trade.

To Tozzoli, the connection between trading and peace is just common sense. "If I do business with you, and you owe me money, it doesn't make any sense to kill you," Tozzoli said. "It doesn't make sense to go to war with one another; it makes sense to do business with one another."

Because the World Trade Centers Association is non-political, Tozzoli and the WTCA have on occasion played an important role in countries in conflict. For instance, the World Trade Center in Johannesburg was the site for negotiations between Nelson Mandela and South African President Frederik W. de Klerk in 1990 to end apartheid. When Tozzoli was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, De Klerk and South African Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote letters to the Nobel committee supporting the nomination. De Klerk's letter pointed out that the WTCA's non-political nature has enabled countries to come together peacefully even when relationships were strained.

In 1996, representatives of North Korea and South Korea met with Tozzoli. The meeting occurred a month after the infiltration of a North Korean submarine into South Korean waters. Cities in both countries are now members of the WTCA.

For reasons such as these, Tozzoli today will be honored by the International Institute of New Jersey at its American Dream Celebration at Liberty State Park.

Tozzoli, a native of North Bergen who now lives in Westwood, will receive the Institute's Rachel Davis Dubois Award for human relations for encouraging peace through trade, said Nicholas Montalto, executive director of the institute. Governor Whitman received the first Rachel Davis Dubois award last year, Montalto said.

The institute also will present John Bailye, president of Dendrite International Inc. in Morristown, with its Golden Door Award for a foreign-born American whose accomplishments reflect the ideals of "the American dream." The International Institute of New Jersey is a non-profit organization that helps immigrants and refugees make the transition to American society. It also seeks to promote harmony and understanding among people of diverse backgrounds.