Mario Perillo (August 15, 1926 – February 28, 2003)Mario P. Perillo , 1926–2003 , Obituary
/ref> was an American businessman and chairman of Perillo Tours, Inc. He expanded his father Joseph Perillo's business, founded in 1945, to become the largest US operator of tours to Italy. Mario Perillo was perhaps best known to the public for his television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s, earning him the nickname "Mr. Italy". Perillo was born in 1926 and graduated from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

. He owned (but never resided in) the historic Achenbach House in

Saddle River, New Jersey Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of New York City, located just over northwest of Manhattan. The town is known for its natural fields, farmland, horse farms, forests, and rivers, and ...

, which was adjacent to his longtime residence on Apple Ridge Road. His son Steve Perillo lived in the house until it was almost completely destroyed by fire in 2004.Fisher, Janon
"Bergen County House on Historic Register Is Fire Victim"
''The New York Times'', March 20, 2004. Accessed February 4, 2012. "In the 1960s, the private house, known as the Achenbach House, was the home of the actor and producer Larry Blyden and his wife, the actress and dancer Carol Haney, who believed the house was haunted. Later it was owned by Mario Perillo of Perillo Tours, well known for his television commercials selling package tours to Italy; after his death, the house passed to Mr. Perillo's son Stephen, the current owner." Mario Perillo died in 2003, aged 76.

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* 1927 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople People from Saddle River, New Jersey New York Law School alumni American people of Italian descent Businesspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey {{US-business-bio-1920s-stub