BIOGRAPHY
Frank Anthony Ferraro was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 21, 1936. He attended Central High School in Bridgeport until 1954. During high school Frank got his first job when he was fourteen years old working for First National Stores in Milford
Connecticut. Like most kids, after he graduated high school he didn’t know what he wanted to do in life and because money was not available to go to college. He was influenced by a cousin who was a mechanical designer and after several discussions with him Frank made the decision that he would pursue the same route. His cousin attended the Colonial School of Mechanical Design in Connecticut and after he graduated he procured a good job in a corporate company as a designer earning a good salary. That gave Frank the incentive that he needed and he applied to the same school where he completed a two-year course in Mechanical Design, Upon his graduation, he immediately went to work for a Jobber. Jobbers are companies who lease out technical people to the corporate world for a fee and Frank was ready to start pursuing his career in a field that he grew to love and that was engineering design. The Jobber that Frank worked for, sent him to the Schick Safety Razor Company in Milford Connecticut. The company manufactured and marketed shaving products worldwide. After working there for three months and delivering exceptional work performance, Frank was offered a permanent job to work directly for the company; He accepted the position after clearing it with the Jobber. He started off working for Schick as a mechanical designer in 1958 working on new shaving product developments.
In 1960, he married Phyllis Grace Altieri and bought his first house in Bridgeport Connecticut. In 1963, he moved to Monroe CT with his wife Phyllis and their son Vincent. After six years in Monroe he grew his family with an additional three daughters, Dawn, Robyn and Gina. In 1969, he built a house in Trumbull Ct. During his years at Schick he worked himself up to a Chief Engineer’s position and eventually to Manager of Product Development Department for Schick Shaving products. In his 41 years at Schick, he created over 50 patents of razor and blade designs that were granted by the United States patent office and patented in the US and in 128 countries worldwide. Frank retired from Schick in 1992 at the age of 55. Schick asked Frank to stay for another six years which he did. Once he left Schick in 1998, he developed another 6 to 8 patents for his own personal products. During his years at Schick he managed to complete three years of his intended Mechanical Engineering Degree, attending Bridgeport Engineering Institute nights, but abandoned the completion of his degree to pursue investment opportunities.
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Schick was just a building block to Frank’s career and it motivated him to want to do more. After he retired from the razor company, he started up another company known as Vigiroda Products. Vigiroda stands for the first two letters of each of his children’s names. Frank had created analuminum sheet with holes in it and it was used for barbeque grilling. This company manufactured reusable BBQ grill sheet toppers called Grill-O- Sheets. The many features of the sheets included the prevention of the food from falling through the grates of the grill, a clean surface to cook on and it cooked the food evenly. He developed all the equipment to produce them at his factory in Shelton CT. Frank generated the sales by contacting all mail
Frank also liked construction because it was like inventing, you design it, you build it and you see your invention come to life. At that time, Frank had the opportunity to buy commercial property and because he was eager for a new venture, he went for it. He bought three acres out of the seven acres on the terms that he was guaranteed the option on the other four acres in a year. After zoning approval for a strip shopping plaza, Frank and his partner, who was a general contractor, finished the plaza in 1978. In 1986, two businessmen were added to the partnership and together they added twenty thousand more square feet to the complex. With the additional building the total square footage was thirty-three thousand, which were eventually converted to twenty-two commercial condominiums. The shopping center was named Oronoque Shopping Plaza located at 7365 Main Street in Stratford, Connecticut directly across the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
order houses in the U.S such as Harriet Carter and the Publishers Clearing House, and many others. He ran Vigiroda Products for about three years, then sold it to another businessman in CT, who renamed it VIGIRODA Products, LLC. This brilliant invention was the first grill sheet invented and since then a variety of grill sheets were developed and sold today. Frank’s Grillo-O-Sheet is sold today at Home Depots, Lowes, and many other hardware chain stores.
Frank now not only was an inventor, but a business developer and owner. He had opened a liquor store and a deli in the plaza development. The deli that he opened was a New York style deli named Ballducci’s. He got the idea for the name from the famous deli in New York city known as Balducci’s. Frank and three of his close friends ran the deli for about two or three years and then sold it. In 1982, Frank and his partner developed thirty condominium in Bridgeport Connecticut. It consisted of three building and by the time the construction was half completed, Frank had deposits on all units and with a list of backup buyers. But, unfortunately, the bank interest rates started to rise to an unforgiveable high interested rate of 21%. Consequently, Frank and his partner lost the project because at the end of the day the buyers all backed out of their commitments. They caught a lucky break and ended up with two units and no debt.
Another business he had owned was Altieri’s Bakery in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Altieri’s made the best Italian bread in the city. He ran the bakery with his partners for about a year, but sold it due to the tiresome working schedule and waking up every morning at 1:00am to make all the baked goods for each day’s business. He stated, “It was definitely a learning experience”. He eventually sold it to his partners. Subsequently Frank got together with a man who had the need for a transporting cart on wheels that would be used for corporate office relocation. He asked Frank to come up with something that could move all employee’s personal contents in one trip without the hassle of cardboard boxes, crates, bins, etc. With that being said, Frank’s created juices were tapped and with his revolutionary visions, he created The Rover. The Rover was a plastic cart on wheels that contained drawers and compartments and could relocate employee contents from one location to another. Each Rover could be attached to one another allowing for a quicker and safer way to move employee contents and files. This system was designed to not only save space but to also provide a heavy-duty structure to transport a variety of components as well. To this day companies are using the Rover for relocation moves, and are improving the way corporations move.
“Entrepreneurs are driven. And the drive comes from the reward you get from watching your creation come to life”. Today, many of his inventions and products are still being used and the shopping center he built is still running successfully.
Frank stated. “Success is if you are happy with what you did and what you accomplished”
Frank Ferraro is a man of interest. When he looks at something, he tries to envision how to make it better. If he has an idea and it isn’t going as planned, he won’t let it go until it’s perfected.
The one thing that Frank learned from his experiences is that it’s easy to get into a project with partners, but once you’re in it is hard to get out. So, if you could avoid partners, do so. Also, very few successes are achieved when you venture into a project on a shoe string, meaning not enough money. The one thing that Frank did learn is that it takes money to make money.
This is the reason that you need partners and banks. Franks favorite reward of his career adventures was that he was allowed to be creative. He loved his job because it allowed him to create. He loved going to work, and loved that he could impact people’s lives in the way that he did.