Whether on the battlefield or testifying before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on behalf of the coal-mining industry, Anthony "Tony" Gentile brought grit, determination and integrity to the table.

Born in Aquila, Italy, in 1920 Gentile immigrated to the United States when he was 8 years old. He attended Youngstown State University for two and a half years before serving with the U.S. Army from January 1942 until October 1945. In his duty to country Tony was hit by enemy fire twice, resulting in him being awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star for his courage, devotion to duty and gallantry in action.

For nearly six months, he served as the Military Governor of Shongau, Germany, near the Austrian border, where he was responsible for more than 2,000 displaced people of 18 nationalities, who were released from concentration camps.

Upon his return home, Tony entered business first as a co-owner of a Bloomingdale, Ohio, restaurant. He entered the coal-mining industry in 1952, when he became the assistant to the president of Huberta Coal Company. He continued to climb within the mining industry working his way up from general manager of Half Moon Coal Company of Weirton to general manager, president and finally chairman of the board of Ohio River Collieries Company.

His knowledge and understanding of the coal-mining industry proved valuable during his term as chairman of the Mining and Reclamation Council of America in Washington, D.C, which he completed in March 1982. In 1965, he traveled to nine countries in Europe with Ohio Governor James Rhodes on a trade mission and was honored with an Executive Order of Ohio Commodore. In 1967, he was one of 42 American delegates to the Fifth International Mining Congress held in the Soviet Union in Moscow and Kiev and was invited to the Kremlin for dinner and a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet. He frequently is called upon as spokesman for the industry.

In addition to his involvement in the coal-mining industry, Tony also has been a partner in a few development companies and has served in an office capacity in a number of other business endeavors, earning him recognition and respect in the business world in the United States and abroad.

The recipient of numerous awards, Tony has been recognized as "Citizen of the Year" by the Wintersville Chamber of Commerce, and he was awarded an honorary "doctor of humane letters" degree by Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Macedonia Visionary Award.

An ardent supporter of the arts, Tony is, himself, a painter of many works.

He and the former Nina A. DiScipio have been married 56 years and are the parents of four children, Robert Gentile, Anita G. Rice, Rita G. Dutton and Thomas G. Gentile. He and his wife reside in Wintersville.