| Notes |
A decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Vito Pampalona entered the real estate field in 1968. In 1973, he founded Vito Anthony Homes specializing real estate brokerage, land development, and high-end custom homes and estates. Faced with a negative reception upon his return home from the Vietnam War, Vito vowed if there were more wars in his lifetime he would support the troops coming home. Since 2003, Pampalona has been a direct supporter of patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he is affectionately known as “Uncle Vito”. For more than 15 years he has hosted Christmas parties there and at nearby Ft. Belvoir. He has interacted with over 4,000 patients and their families at these holiday events. His work at Walter Reed, including the purchasing of clothes for patients to replace their hospital gowns, and the donation of a food pantry of healthy snacks, earned him the National Good Neighbor Award from the National Association of Realtors. Since 2005, Vito has served on Yellow Ribbon Fund’s Board of Directors and has chaired key programs. In 2007, Vito established the annual Yellow Ribbon Fund Golf Outing in Rochester, Michigan which has raised approximately $1 million for the organization. For more than a decade, Vito has served on the selection committee for the Wounded Warrior Scholarship Program at Colorado Technical University and, together with Yellow Ribbon Fund, they have awarded more than 500 scholarships. In addition to Yellow Ribbon Fund, Vito was named Builder of the Year in 2010 by Homes for Our Troops which builds special adaptive homes for amputee veterans. He is also a lifetime member of the Walter Reed Society. He lives and works in Rochester, Michigan where he enjoys spending time with his family, reading to his grandchildren, and playing golf. |