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8 n e w h a v e n B I Z | M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 9 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m WHAT'S YOUR SIGN? What's in a (nick)name? Plenty. Mutual success: a better approach to business banking. Our products, services and team approach were designed with your growing needs in mind. Visit chelseagroton.com/growthatbusiness or call 860-448-4203 to learn how we can grow that business of yours together. • BUSINESS BANKING • COMMERCIAL LOANS • TREASURY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS T R E N D I N G M any people when they grow to adulthood cringe at mere mention of their childhood nicknames. F. Francis (Hi- Ho) D'Addario didn't just tolerate his nickname, taken from the childhood nursery rhyme — he flaunted it. D'Addario was one of Connecti- cut's most successful entrepreneurs and most colorful public figures be- fore he died in a small-plane crash near Chicago in 1986 at age 63. D'Addario was head of D'Addario Industries of Bridgeport, a con- glomerate of some 40 companies in industries as diverse as hotels to home-heating oil, from shopping malls to casinos. A court battle that lasted more than quarter-century wiped out an estate valued at $162 million at the time of his death. at fortune's long gone — siphoned off by greedy relatives, sketchy business associates and the usual dueling phalanxes of lawyers. But D'Addario's legacy — or at least his childhood nickname — endures in the fading remnants of his long- ago commercial empire scattered in and around the Park City. e most visible of these is the Hotel Hi-Ho at 4180 Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield, just off Exit 44 of the Merritt Parkway. e iconic sign on the former Motel Hi-Ho (above le) reappeared two summers ago, reflecting the estab- lishment's new and slightly more upscale handle of Hotel Hi-Ho. Built in 1960, the hotel was owned by D'Addario and then his family successors. In the years following D'Addario's death the property and its reputation declined until it was sold in 2014 for $4.35 million and renovated into a upscale hotel and restaurant. e Hi-Ho name likewise endures on D'Addario's oil storage tanks in Bridgeport, just as it once identified an Atlantic City casino in which he was a partner and even the uniforms of his world champi- onship women's soball team, the Brakettes. In business, they say name rec- ognition is priceless. All the more so when it outlasts its namesake by nearly half a century. n — Michael C. Bingham