Caesar DePaço

DePaço founded his first pharmaceutical materials company Summit Sourcing in 1997. In 2001, Summit Sourcing was restructured into Summit Nutritionals International, which manufactures raw materials for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and food industries.[14]

On 3 October 2014, DePaço was appointed as Honorary Consul of the Portuguese Republic in Florida, based out of the city of Palm Coast.[15][16] In 2017, DePaço organized the first-ever raising of the Portuguese flag at a government building in Florida, at the Palm Coast City Hall.[17]

DePaço was a finalist for the New Jersey Corporate Citizen of the Year award in 2014, for his and his company's dedication to philanthropic works, particularly those in regards to supporting local law enforcement.[18]

In 2020, DePaço became a member of the advisory board for the Portuguese Criminology Association.[19]

In May 2020, DePaço resigned from his position as Honorary Consul, citing irreconcilable differences with the Portuguese Ambassador to the United States, Domingos Fezas Vital, on matters concerning Portuguese national interest and foreign policy, stating that “I leave because I cannot compromise my principles and I will not overlook unacceptable conduct.”.[20]

DePaço is has been recognized, primarily across the United States, but also in Europe, for his philanthropic work involving law enforcement in the United States, Portugal, and France.[21][22][23][24][25] His work has primarily centered around sponsoring or donating K-9 units to local police forces across the United States and Europe, including the Guarda Nacional Republicana of Portugal and the Police Nationale of France.[26][27][28][29][30] Following the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, DePaço donated a canine unit to the French National Police.[5][6][31] DePaço's support for police K-9 programs has led to the Morris County, New Jersey, K-9 facility being renamed as the Caesar DePaço, Ph.D. Sheriff’s K-9 Training Grounds[32]

DePaço was honored in July 2017 by the Municipality of Madalena, the place of his birth, with the Golden Medal, for his service in name of the "most noble values of humanity", through his honorary consulship, entrepreneurial history, and philanthropy.[33] In July 2018, the Municipality of Madalena bestowed its golden key to DePaço, in recognition of his philanthropic work and for his contributions to the Azorean community.[34][35]

DePaço has been made an honorary police officer by the Daytona Beach Police Department, Point Pleasant Beach PD, Linwood PD, DeLand PD, Beachwood PD, and Holmdel Township PD, primarily for his work in support of police forces across the United States.[36][37][38][39][40] DePaço has also been made honorary chief of police of Hillsborough Township PD, police commissioner of Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, deputy sheriff of Bristol County, Massachusetts, as well as an honorary deputy of the sheriff's offices of Flagler County, Florida and Morris County, New Jersey.

In 2018, DePaço was honored in a joint resolution by the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey.[41]

DePaço is married to Deanna Padovani-DePaço.

DePaço was present and injured during a 1993 attack by the Khmer Rouge in Siem Reap, Cambodia in the lead up to the 1993 Cambodian general election. DePaço's head was grazed by a bullet.[42]

Portuguese news outlets, including SIC Notícias, one of the largest news channels in the country, and news magazine Visão, have noted that Caesar DePaço mantains ties with Chega!, a far-right Portuguese party, having made at least one donation of a substantial sum.[43][44] Photographs posted on social media have shown DePaço with party leader André Ventura, and in party rallies.[45] On 11 January 2021, SIC aired an exposé titled A Grande Ilusão, asserting that DePaço had donated a total sum of over 10 thousand euros (the maximum allowed by Portuguese law), as well as highlighting connections of party leaders (namely José Lourenço, President of the party's Porto district section, and Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, the party's vice-president) to the DePaço Foundation, established in 2020 (after this was pointed out to them, some of the information was removed from the Foundation's website, where the list of all involved was publicly available).[44]

The day after the exposé was aired, Luís Filipe Tavares, Cape Verdean Foreign Minister, presented his resignation, reportedly over his links to DePaço (who he had recently made Honorary Consul of Cape Verde) and the Portuguese far-right party.[46][47]

In January 2021, Caesar DePaço was exonerated from the position of Honorary Consul of Cape Verde in Florida,[10] his connection to the CHEGA! Portuguese political party having become a scandal in the country. CHEGA!'s connection to far-right anti-immigration individuals in Portuguese society was regarded negatively in Cape Verde media. [48][49]

His wife, Deanna Padovani-DePaço, remains as Honorary Consul of Cape Verde to New Jersey.[12] In an article in January 2021, newspaper "A Nação" questioned the case of a husband and wife being both appointed to as consuls, writing "This is the first time Cape Verde has ever nominated a couple, husband and wife, to consulates in the same country, at once, to different states in the U.S.A." It went to quote a source that described the situation as "a case of influence peddling and corruption."[13]

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