Franco Cozzo
{{Short description|Australian businessman (1935–2023)}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Franco Cozzo
| image = Franco Cozzo mural on the Franco Cozzo building Footscray.jpg
| caption = Mural of Cozzo on the side of his Footscray premises
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|10|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = Ramacca, Italy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|12|20|1935|10|2|df=y}}
| death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| nationality = Australian
| occupation = Businessman
| years_active = 1955–2023
| parents =
| children = 10{{Cite web |last=Abbott |first=Lachlan |date=20 December 2023 |title=Iconic Melbourne furniture salesman Franco Cozzo dies |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-icon-franco-cozzo-dies-20231215-p5erro.html |access-date=21 December 2023 |website=The Age}}
}}
Franco Cozzo (2 October 1935 – 20 December 2023) was an Italian-Australian businessman. After moving to Melbourne from Sicily in 1955, Cozzo became known for his television advertisements, in which he would speak in English, Greek, and Italian. He later produced Australia's first non-English TV show, Carosello, which was broadcast in Italian.{{cite web |last1=Robin |first1=Jo |title=Megalo, Megalo, Megalo! Melbourne Icon Franco Cozzo Is Getting His Own Film |url=https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/entertainment/article/megalo-megalo-megalo-melbourne-icon-franco-cozzo-getting-his-own-film |website=Broadsheet |publisher=Broadsheet |access-date=14 August 2021}}
Cozzo was a local celebrity in Melbourne, especially the suburb of Footscray, for over 50 years,{{cite web |last1=Bowen |first1=Daniel |title=Franco Cozzo |url=https://www.danielbowen.com/2011/01/13/franco-cozzo/ |website=danielbowen.com.au |date=12 January 2011 |publisher=Daniel Bowen |access-date=14 August 2021}} and was a prominent ethnic minority TV personality of the era in Victoria.
Biography
Born in 1935, Cozzo grew up with his family in Sicily, where his father was a horse trader. When Cozzo was 12, his younger sister died of a heart attack.{{cite book |last1=Martiniello |first1=Madeleine |title=Palazzo di Cozzo |date=2021 |publisher=Sharmill Films}}
After migrating to Australia in January 1956, Cozzo initially worked as a door-to-door salesman selling baroque furniture and other products.{{cn|date=June 2023}} His first shop in North Melbourne also sold whitegoods, and he also briefly had a Fiat dealership.
In the late 1960s, Cozzo produced a TV show featuring local Italian-Australian musical acts on Channel 0, which he used as an advertising space for his furniture business. This was the first non-English Australian TV show, pre-dating ethnic broadcasting on the government's Special Broadcasting Service by more than a decade.{{cn|date=January 2024}} Around this time, he also purchased what would become his flagship store in Footscray.{{cite web |last1=Ballantyne |first1=Adrian |title=Franco Cozzo sells iconic Footscray store in ultimate 'grand sale' |url=https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/franco-cozzo-sells-iconic-footscray-store-in-ultimate-grand-sale |website=realcommercial.com.au |access-date=14 August 2021}}
In 1981, Cozzo was awarded a plaque by the local council in recognition of his contribution to the local community.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
Personal life and death
Cozzo divorced his first wife during the 1980s. He remarried and had further children with his second wife.
Cozzo's son, Luigi, was jailed in 1992 for drug trafficking, alleged to have imported cocaine hidden in his father's furniture shipments.{{cite book |title='Self-indulgent' cocaine dealer jailed for 4 years |date=18 January 1992 |publisher=The Canberra Times |location=Canberra |page=16 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118164689?searchTerm=luigi%20cozzo}}
Cozzo died at his home in Melbourne on 20 December 2023, at the age of 88.{{cite news| last = Tuffield |first = Rhiannon| date = 20 December 2023| title = Melbourne's 'king of furniture' Franco Cozzo has died at the age of 88 | url = https://www.9news.com.au/national/melbourne-news-king-of-furniture-franco-cozzo-dead-at-87/9db06a96-8795-4d41-a0fb-52aed80bfaef | work = Nine News| location = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | access-date = 20 December 2023}}
Legacy
Cozzo was a local celebrity in his adoptive home of Melbourne (especially the suburb of Footscray, which he pronounced distinctively as Footisgray in his TV adverts) thanks to his distinctive Italian accent and trilingual ads. He was one of the most prominent ethnic TV personalities prior to the launch of the government-funded Special Broadcasting Service.{{cite web |last1=Angelucci |first1=Margherita |last2=Egan |first2=Laura |title="Where? In Brunswick and Foot-a-scray!" Franco Cozzo to star in documentary |url=https://ilglobo.com/en/news/where-in-brunswick-and-foot-a-scray-franco-cozzo-to-star-in-documentary-40201/# |website=Il Globo News |publisher=Il Globo News |access-date=14 August 2021}}
Norda Melbin E Footisgray by Tony Cursio is a stereotypically Italian tune with lyrics based on Cozzo's television advertisements, recorded during the 1980s.{{cite web |title=Franco Cozzo |url=https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/franco-cozzo |website=OnlyMelbourne |access-date=14 August 2021}}
Cozzo was the subject of Palazzo di Cozzo, a biographical documentary film about his life and experiences as an Italian-Australian businessman from the 1950s to 2020s.{{cite news |last1=Vigilante |first1=Stephanie |title=In a Room Full of Ostentatious Furniture, Melbourne Icon Franco Cozzo Loomed Largest |url=https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/entertainment/article/room-full-ostentatious-furniture-melbourne-icon-franco-cozzo-still-looms-largest |access-date=22 January 2025 |work=Broadsheet |date=20 December 2023}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.francocozzo.com.au/ francocozzo.com.au]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cozzo, Franco}}
Category:20th-century Australian businesspeople
Category:21st-century Australian businesspeople
Category:Businesspeople from Sicily