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Celebrating 50 years - Tony Nigro
Celebrating 50 years Tony Nigro
Celebrating a massive milestone of working at Fresh State for 38 years and in the industry for 50 years, Tony Nigro can still remember his first day at the Melbourne Market.
There is few in the market who don't know Tony. Nearly every morning, he is out on the Market floor liaising between grower organisations, transport companies, and the wholesalers to obtain Market Pricing Data.
HISTORY Tony’s father, Michele, came to Australia in 1951 to secure work and a home for his family. His mother, Ida, came with Tony, his brother Bill and sister Frances from Italy in 1957, arriving on Christmas Day. Tony attended Clifton Hill Primary for a short while until the family moved to Mentone, where he attended Mentone Primary School and then Beaumaris High School. Tony met his now-wife, Margaret, at a dance in St Kilda in 1968. We are told that he was such a great dancer and Marg couldn’t let him go so three years later in 1971 they were married. They lived in Mentone, where their daughter, Mandy, was born on the 6th of December 1972. Tony was headhunted by Agrep in the early ’70s and came to work with the market. At Agrep, Tony headed up the transport department, which put him in good stead for becoming a successful transition to Fresh State. On his 25th birthday, Tony Nigro began working at the Melbourne Market on the 21st of June, 1971.
In 1987 he was appointed as the Transport Manager of Fresh State and built a substantial business providing a freight forwarding service and the “essential” incoming figures that he is still providing to us all today. Tony’s role at Fresh State has changed slightly over the years. He is now doing price reporting, where he walks the market every morning, speaking to wholesalers and growers, gathering prices for all the major fresh produce lines sold in the market. At 75 years young, Tony continues to wake up in the early hours of the morning to walk around and chat with the market community. Next time you see Tony out and about, be sure to congratulate him on this tremendous achievement.
