JMP Wood started out as a small business in Brooklyn designed by three brothers from Italy who came to America for a better way of life and worked hard to achieve it for generations. Today, the firm, now known as MPT Wood, still maintains its manufacturing plant in Brooklyn along with a showroom, store and warehouse in Linden and is owned by Michael Cangelosi, the second generation of Guiseppe’s family, with every promise his son will continue the American dream of his father and grandfather” there is no challenge too big or small for their skilled and passionate staff. Giuseppe “Joe” Cangelosi

The firm features the most up to date, state of the art machinery and software, employs professional artisans who can manufacture any species of wood into any shape, size and form imaginable, meet needs fast and prove on a daily basis that hard work, determination and a will to be a part of their new country can be the dream of every American. This is the story of the first 50 years of the family owned business.

The family-owned business that started on $20, a dictionary and the aim to pass on something of importance with pride and tradition to continue for generations to come is celebrating a half century of skill, expertise and love of wooden creations. JMP Display Fixtures is now in the capable and loving hands of the second generation as it celebrates 50 years since its founding in Brooklyn in 1974.

Giuseppe Cangelosi, along with his brothers Mario and Peter were young when they moved with their parents from their native Sicily to Venezuela and came from there to the United States in 1962.

As a youngster in Italy, like all children, Guiseppe went to trade school at a very young age, learning all about wood, how to bring out its grandeur, respect its use and choose the most efficient variety for each specific purpose. It was when he complained about the calluses he had on his fingers from sandpapering, the last steps in fashioning a violin, that one of his teachers admired the special talent he had. The instructor told him one day that talent, and those calluses would be rewarded with success.

Although Guiseppe spoke both Italian and Spanish, he came to America with no knowledge of the English language. So he purchased a dictionary to expand his knowledge, carrying it with him to look up words he needed. He used the yellow pages to learn numbers and watched Sesame Street on television and read newspapers to learn pronunciation and how to read English.

Guiseppe’s limited education in Italy…he never did get a high school diploma….was supplemented with a strong drive and determination that gave him the practical knowledge and education he needed to become a success in life, both in working hard to provide well for his family at some point in his future and to be spending his time doing work he loved.

It was this drive and determination that led to Guiseppe to follow his own desire in America. After getting a job and working hard for little money, the determined immigrant knew he could do more on his own at work he loved.

So he and his brothers Mario and Peter started JMP Display Fixtures, setting up their first shop in a basement of a commercial building in Brooklyn in 1974. Guiseppe, better known as Joe the Designer, with his great love and knowledge of wood and creative ideas, was the primary designer for the variety of wood display fixtures they made for boutiques and major department store chains.

Like all new businesses, JMP Fixtures struggled through the formative years, pouring any proceeds back into the business, accepting gratefully the help of the brothers’ parents when they needed some petty cash, food or cigarettes.

Even before Joe married Rosalie whom he had met through a mutual friend in Canarsie, she happily joined the struggle in the tough years of building up the business and continuing to provide well designed, highly sought after displays for chains including Macys and JCPenney’s.

When the couple’s son Michael was born, his proud father lost no time in teaching him that skill, hard work, determination and confidence in himself would all be necessary to continue the business and be a success. From the time he was five, Michael accompanied his dad to work whenever possible, learning to love the oaks and ash, the pines and maples, the designs, and the texture of all varieties and knowing he would like to be successful through his own efforts one day.

Still, Guiseppe knew from his own experience that working hard for little money is a driving force towards success. He wanted to be sure Michael learned that way as well. So when his young, equally work- driven but practical son complained his dad was only paying him a dollar for all the work he did, his loving father reminded him that if he worked hard, for little money, he, too, would one day become successful in the business.

To ensure they would be successful and to provide them with the education they would need, the Cangelosis wanted both their son, Michael and daughter Bridget to take advantage of a college education and urged them both to pursue higher education. Both did, and Bridget went on, to the pride and joy of her family, to become a Doctor of Pharmacology. Michael enrolled in college with his aim of getting a degree in business.

It was the early part of the 21^st century, and stores were looking to replace designed and wooden display stands with other varieties imported from China as a means of cutting down expenses to keep their own businesses solvent during difficult years. So JMP Display, now owned and operated by Guiseppe alone, was facing another challenging time in business.

That is when Michael came to his parents, and with the honesty and determination he had learned from both of them, said he was changing colleges. He wanted to get his degree from a special kind of college, he said, one that would enable him to help his father make a success of his own business once again. Michael said he wanted to leave college and further his education at a college where both he and his family could take pride in his accomplishments and help his dad at the same time.

That’s when Michael let Joe and Rosalie know he wanted to go back to JMP Display Fixtures. He promised them he would treat his studies and work with the company as the college degree that would teach him everything, he needed to know in order to succeed.

His parents, at first disappointed, soon learned Michael was right, was dedicated towards learning all he could and could bring the family business through those next few difficult years. Like his dad, Michael has a love of wood, a passion for perfection, and the wisdom of a businessman who knows his product and its value.

The company expanded its creative specialties to compensate for the decreased interest in custom-made display cases. Now known as JMP Wood Stairs & Rails and JMP Wood, the company grew to earn its reputation and become best known for its balusters, custom made staircases and railings. All the work is completed by both computer controlled machine and by hand, designed in house for intricate handiwork and specialty staircases and rails for private homes and businesses. Combining timeless knowledge of woodworking with innovative ideas and advanced technology, JMP has become a leader in the millwork industry, working with clients including NBC, PBS, Disney and more.

The contented father retired from the business several years ago, happy and assured Michael would continue as president, and satisfied beyond his dreams of what Michael had accomplished.

When Joe died in 2023, he left not only his loving wife and two generations of offspring and their spouses who learned so much from him, but also his undying love for family, hard work, and the rewards of a happy and well-lived life.

After 50 years, a half century of love, passion, hard work and energy, JMP is on the way to prosper for another half century or more. And it will also be the educational foundation for Michael and Assunta’s son, Guiseppe, a five-year-old who already wants to go to work with his Dad.

The couple’s daughter, Rosalia, at three, simply wants to admire and copy her older brother’s antics for the time being. Bridget, in addition to her success as a pharmacist, married Bravo Bednairk and their daughters Valentina and Michaela carry on the distinctive trademarks and inheritances of both Rosalie and Guiseppe, a hard working Italian-American couple who were helped in America and they themselves then became a part of the nation they helped make a better place.

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There is hope and confidence that the American dream will continue for generations when you see hundreds of kids five to ten years old standing up, clapping, smiling broadly and waving American flags as two dozen or so veterans from all branches of the service came into the gym of the John F. Kennedy School in South Plainfield on Veterans Day.

It’s a tradition that has been going on every Veterans Day for the past 15 years at this school, thanks to an amazing principal, Dr. Kevin Hajduk and a team of dedicated teachers and teachers’ aides.

Dr. Hajduk sets aside Veterans Day every year to be sure everyone of the students in the kindergarten through 4^th grade school gets the chance to learn more about the United States and the men and women who serve to keep it free, gets to learn what a real hero is, and gets to brag about friends or members of his own family who serve or have served in the military.

The school sets day long activities to ensure the students know everything about Armistice Day that ended World War I and when and why it was changed from honoring the end of that war to a day recognizing everyone who has served in the military. It’s a day when the students can bring in family members and honor them before the entire school population and even have them come back to their classrooms and talk about their time in the service.

With approximately 300 students in the four grades, there were two dozen relatives, most of them grandfathers of students, representing every branch of the military service except the Space Force, who sat in front of the audience while students conducted a program to honor them, having each be recognized as the anthem of their particular branch of service was played.

Children also stood up to be recognized along with their relatives and to accept the applause of the student body, teachers and other staff members. Military members were then invited back to classrooms to answer questions from the students and tell something of their lives in the military.

It was Athan McNamee, son of Trey and Jamie McNamee, who invited his great aunt, Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman USN (ret) to not only be honored by the school but also to talk to his first-grade class at Kennedy School. Commander Smith Yeoman served 23 years in the Navy and is currently the chief naval instructor at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology on Sandy Hook.

As a naval officer, she was a deep-sea diver and served in Hawaii, Kuwait and Cuba among other locations.

In speaking to the students after the ceremony, it was hard to tell whether they were more fascinated by the blue shark she met while scrubbing barnacles off the bottom of a ship or the camels she chased from the firing range in Kuwait when the men and women were practicing with firearms.

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