BIOGRAPHY

Born in Torres Vedras, João Crisóstomo ended up becoming a citizen of the world years before settling in the metropolis that he claims as his capital, New York City.

After passing through the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa in the 1960s and winning a 4th class war cross in Guinea-Bissau, he worked and studied in London (1968-1969), Paris (1970) and Ludwigsburg (Stuttgart) (1971) before attending courses in hotel management at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and working at the Leme Palace Hotel in that city.

He arrived in the United States in 1975, where he worked first as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s butler (1975-1979), then as the owner-manager of the New York restaurant Cuisine du Coeur (1979-1982), and again (1982-2015) as a steward for several high-society New York families.

It was in the salons of high society that he won the friendship of the people he served and the privilege of maintaining their friendship and openness to many causes to which he had already dedicated energy or would later dedicate himself: the defense of the Foz Coa engravings with “SAVE DE COA SITE MOVEMENT USA” (1995); the dissemination of the humanitarian action during World War II of the Portuguese diplomats Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Carlos Sampaio Garrido and Carlos de Liz Teixeira Branquino and of the Brazilian diplomats Sousa Dantas and Rosa Guimarães (1996 and following); the launch of initiatives in defence of the independence of East Timor through LAMETA (1996-2002); public efforts in 2008 to free the Portuguese-American hostage Marc Gonsalves, who was then being held in Colombia by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC); a community movement to ensure the continuity of the Portuguese Consulate in New York (2007), which was threatened with extinction, and other initiatives with less public impact.

Along the way, he received some recognition for his actions: International Rock Art Congress Award (USA), 1998; Angelo Roncalli Medal, IRWF, 2001; Outstanding Service to Society Award, Edison State College, 2001; Vistas for Life Award, 2002; Aristides Sousa Mendes Medal from the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (IRWF), 2004; Luis Martins de Sousa Dantas Medal, IRWF, 2005; Recognition Certificate, Government of Canada 2005; Tágides Award in the category "Portugal in the World Initiative", All 4 Integrity, 2023.

However, he states that no recognition has affected him as deeply as the one he received by telephone from Xanana Gusmão on the night of 23 to 24 September 1999 – the month in which the Timorese leader was released from an Indonesian prison – regarding LAMETA's long and sometimes fierce struggle for the independence of Timor-Leste: “We are very grateful for everything you have done”

Awards

. 1998— International Rock Art Congress Award, (USA)

. 2001— Angelo Roncalli Medal, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

. 2001— Outstanding Service to Society Award, Edison State College

. 2002— Visas for Life Award

. 2004— “Aristides de Sousa Mendes Medal”, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

. 2005— "Luis Martins de Sousa Dantas Medal, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

. 2005— Recognition Certificate, Government of Canada

. 2023— Tágides Award in the category "Portugal in the World Initiative", All 4 Integrity