Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958
"Carl Grillo was a brilliant political organizer and adviser who knew every aspect of public policy. He was an excellent field organizer who knew how to motivate people. He was instrumental and critical in both of my election campaigns and he made the extra difference in the campaign that I won in 1993. He continued to remain active in politics, organizing, teaching people, passing on his knowledge and experience to others.
Carl was an extraordinarily generous man, a very intelligent man, a very good man. I'm very thankful that he got to see the Yankees win the World Series. He was with me at the Sixth Game and we celebrated the victory together. As a lifelong Yankee fan, it was something Carl wanted to see and be a part of, even though he was very ill at the time. We were not certain that he would last this long but he was a real fighter. He fought very hard in politics, he fought very hard in life and he fought very hard against this terrible disease.
We will all miss Carl Grillo tremendously. He has a wonderful family, his mother Marie, his brother Louis, and his fiance, Marianna Iannuzzi. I know that my good friend Ray Harding will miss him because he was Ray's right arm in every sense of the word. I will miss him as a very close friend and as a good and decent human being."