Nor’easter KOs Columbus Day Parade But Plenty of Italian Heritage Celebrated

Joe Moglia, a hard-charging one-time football coach at Fordham Prep turned Wall Street executive who became chairman and CEO of TD Ameritrade, expected to cap off a weekend of Italian cultural celebrations with a triumphant march up Fifth Avenue as the grand marshal of the 2025 Columbus Day parade.

But the nor’easter that dumped several inches of rain on the metropolitan area and expected coastal flooding prompted Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency for the downstate area the night before. And that meant for the first time in 81 years the Columbus Day parade was canceled. And given the logistics where there is a parade virtually every weekend in Manhattan, it could not be rescheduled.

”Once the governor declared a state of emergency in the downstate area, we had no choice but to cancel,” said Chris Loiacono, president of Columbus Citizens Foundation. He said while the anticipated heavy rain did not ultimately materialize in Manhattan, it was too much of a liability with bands, floats, and spectators traveling from out of town.

But that does not mean there was no celebration of Italian heritage. On Saturday morning, before the rain came, there was the traditional wreath-laying at Columbus Circle to honor fallen first responders, complete with firefighters who flew in from Italy.

Then there was a gala fundraising dinner that drew over 600 people to Cipriani Wall Street on the evening of Oct. 11. Moglia in a humorous keynote address told people that his mom was from Belfast, Northern Ireland and thought she was marrying into an up-and-coming family on Park Avenue. It was Park Avenue, but it was the Park Avenue in the Bronx, not Manhattan.

He grew up in the hardscrabble uptown neighborhood, one of five kids in a two-bedroom apartment.

Although there was no parade on Oct. 13, St. Patrick’s Cathedral was packed with over 2,500 worhshipers for what is usually the pre-parade Mass that morning. “We had a full house,” remarked Loiacono. The number in attendance even drew praise from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who thanked them for braving the elements to come to the Mass. And then as a final tune-up, there was a luncheon at the Columbus Citizens Foundation townhouse at 8 E. 69th St. that drew about 250 people.

Loiacono said it is not clear yet how they will handle next year’s parade. Moglia already fulfilled most of the duties he would have performed as the grand marshal this year, minus the big parade. ”We haven’t figured [things] out,” said Loiacono, “but we’re definitely inviting [Moglia] back.”

Moglia, 76, was a student football player at Fordham Prep in the Bronx, where he returned to coach after he graduated college. He left his job coaching football after 16 years and started his business career in the MBA Training Program at Merrill Lynch, where in four years, he became their No. 1 producer and served as a member of both the Institutional and Private Client executive committees.

After 17 years, he left to become CEO at TD Ameritrade in 2001. When he stepped down seven years later, shareholders enjoyed a 500 percent return. When TD Ameritrade was acquired by Charles Schwab, the company had gone from a net worth of $700 million to $24 billion and client assets went from $100 billion to $7 trillion in market cap. After 24 successful years in business, Moglia returned to his first love, coaching football.

In 2023, Fordham renamed its football and soccer field to Moglia Stadium. Joe is only the fourth alumnus in the 190-year history of Fordham University to have received the school’s three most prestigious honors: the Founders Award, the Hall of Honor, and induction into their Athletic Hall of Fame.