Veteran journalist and public relations consultant Lennie Grimaldi was at the Discovery Pavilion in the Wahlstrom Library at the University of Bridgeport last week.
“I’ll be reaching back to share 40 years of stories as a working journalist and public relations consultant.” Hear about Donald Trump, Exorcist star Linda Blair, mob infiltrator Billy Chase, wise guys, Hells Angels and the FBI. And there will be colorful tales about Connecticut characters who add spice to the Nutmeg State.
“We’re excited to bring the real-world experience of Mr. Grimaldi to campus,” said CPIA Dean Thomas Ward. Lennie Grimaldi blogging returns on Only in Bridgeport during the 2016 Bridgeport mayoral race. The event was organized by CPIA Mass Communications Professor Susan Katz, who has worked closely with Mr. Grimaldi for over 25 years on commercial and political campaigns.
Grimaldi is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, TV Guide, Yankee Magazine and Connecticut Magazine. He is the founder and host of the webzine Only In Bridgeport, devoted to government and politics in Connecticut’s largest city. Grimaldi is the author of Bow Tie Banker (Kolumns), a biography of David Carson, the retired CEO of Peoples Bank, and Chased (New Horizon), the life of mob infiltrator Billy Chase. He is also the author of Connecticut Whistle Stops: Greenwich to New Haven (Arcadia) and Only In Bridgeport (first edition Windsor Publications, second edition Harbor Communications, third edition Momentum Communications).
He brings a wide array of corporate communications and public relations experience. His clients have included Wal-Mart Stores and Donald Trump. For Wal-Mart Grimaldi directed a community and media relations campaign for the conversion of an EPA cleanup site in Stratford, CT into a new Wal-Mart retail outlet. For Trump, he handled communications during the hotly debated casino expansion issue before the Connecticut Legislature. Grimaldi directed a crisis management campaign on behalf of the City of Bridgeport in the aftermath of the L’Ambiance building collapse that took 28 lives. He served as senior campaign adviser to Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim in the 1990s.
He has won awards for journalistic excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists, Connecticut Chapter and United Press International. Grimaldi has also written dozens of radio campaigns and corporate-crafted history programs for companies such as Louis Rich, HBO, Tropicana, Excedrin, Nivea, SNET, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Campbell Soup and Apple.
A fascinating talk, here it is in it’s entirety: