Bernadette Castro Bernadette Castro is Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. She received her Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1995. Commissioner Castro ran her family's business, Castro Convertibles, until 1993 and in 1994 was a candidate for the United States Senate, running against Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In January of 1995, Governor George E. Pataki appointed her to his cabinet as Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Born in Manhattan, Commissioner Castro started her life in a two-family house in the Bronx. Her mother was raised on a dairy farm in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and her father was an Italian immigrant who learned English at night and opened a reupholstery shop which later became Castro Convertibles. Business boomed when Castro decided to air television commercials that starred his four-year-old daughter, Bernadette. It was the beginning of her public life. At the University of Florida, she received a B.S. degree in Broadcast Journalism and then went on to receive her Master's degree in Educational Administration with Phi Kappa Phi honors. She became the first woman ever to receive the University's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985. A resident of Suffolk County, New York, the Commissioner has long been involved in civic, charitable and community service organizations. These include, among others, serving on the Hofstra University Board of Trustees and the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center Advisory Board. Serving 65 million visitors a year, the state park system is the oldest, most complex and beautiful in the country. It encompasses 151 parks, 34 historic sites and 15 Heritage Areas. Commissioner Castro strives for balance between protecting the magnificent natural and historic resources under her stewardship and providing wonderful experiences for the parks' millions of visitors. She feels strongly about her role as the state's Historic Preservation Officer. "I believe the preservation of the best can provide new hope for the future, acting as a catalyst for economic growth and heritage tourism." According to a cover story in Newsday, the steps Bernadette Castro has already taken have resulted in "the most dramatic changes to hit the state parks system since Robert Moses created the empire in the 1920s." Bernadette Castro is married to Dr. Peter M. Guida, professor of surgery at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. She has four children Terri, David, Jonathan and Bernard and two granddaughters Grace Keogh and Piper Austin. Her mother, Theresa Castro, lives with her in Long Island. http://www.neco.org/awards/recipients/berncastro.html back to our guests ... Print-Version