by Markos Papadatos

“The Greek-American community is vibrant. Looking at our expansion in the food industry, you see how Greek cuisine is now becoming very common across the United States, more than it ever has in the past," he said, taking a break from his weather forecasting. "Many Greek-Americans have become successful leaders in the community, in the fields of banking, business, education, and politics. The footprint is definitely there, and it’s only going to get bigger and deeper."

Nick Gregory is a third generation Greek American. "Both of my parents were born here, in the United States, but my grandparents on both sides of the family came from Asia Minor. They moved out prior to the 1921 Asia Minor Catastrophe and established their roots in the United States.”

Continuing on the assets of Greek culture, Nick Gregory said that he loves "the music, the architecture, cuisine, as well as the dancing.” Now, that’s an interesting story: “I’m a big proponent of folk dancing. It was a path I thought I would never go down. When I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, my first job in television was working for CNN, for six years. I ended up becoming involved in the church there, so this woman comes up to me and says ‘I saw you on stage, and I am the Director of the Folk Dance group at the church,’ and she asked me to play ‘Zorba the Greek’ in a skit for the church, since the original Zorba actor left the community. I showed up for dance practice about a month before the festival, just to learn what I had to do. While I was at practice, I was exposed to all these dances and music that I had never seen before, and I was taken in by it. After the festival that year, I ended up staying in the dance group and I learned all of the dances. A year later, I was one of the lead male dancers in the group, and a year after that, I became the Assistant Director of the group. When I left Atlanta, and I ended up coming to New York, I joined the Greek-American Folklore Society. I was with that dance group for many years. I’m trying to get my kids to dance. I certainly still enjoy dancing myself."

There have been many loves in Nick Gregory’s life since he was a child, such as the weather and airplanes. "I was always fascinated by the weather as a little boy. Some of my early childhood memories were of big storms that I was just fascinated by. When I was trying to choose a career path, I wanted to do something that I really love, so I studied meteorology, since I enjoyed watching the weather broadcast on television growing up. That’s what led me down the path. I ended up just following that love as a little boy," he says. "When I was eight or nine years old, I was tracking hurricanes via my weather radio. My parents would come in to see if I’m still awake, and they’d be like ‘what are you doing?’ and my response would be ‘I’m tracking the hurricane,’ and they would just shake their heads. I’m very thrilled that I’ve been able to work for all these years and doing the weather forecasts in New York City. It’s a challenge to get here, and a challenge to stay here. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some great people at Fox, and I continue to work with great people!"

Along with Alexis Christoforous and Ernie Anastos, Gregory served as a panelist for the 2011 Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund (HTSF) Journalism Workshop. "That was an exciting, new avenue that the HTSF took on this year. That was new territory for everybody. I thought it was great! It was a lot of fun. We had great attendance, and it was great to hear things from Ernie and from Alexis that I didn’t even know, and I’ve known them for a long time. I enjoyed it, and I hope it was well-received by the members that participated in the event."

"Nick Gregory, together with Ernie Anastos and Alexis Christoforous, spoke before a standing room only crowd and guided and encouraged prospective journalists with excellent career advice. I couldn’t think of a better panel," said Nick Katsoris, the President of the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund and author of the Loukoumi children’s books. "In 2006, we honored Nick with our Humanitarian Award. Through all his professional and personal accomplishments, he is such a perfect role model for our scholarship recipients to emulate and it was indeed our honor to honor him. He continues to come back and support our fund year after year, which is a true testament to his dedication to the Greek community.”

Nick Gregory wears many hats: father, husband, chief meteorologist and flight instructor. "Being married with three daughters, we try to spend as much family time together as possible. We enjoy our time on the weekends as much as we can. We maximize the free time that we have together. I’m also a pilot and flight instructor at Westchester County Airport. I’ve been a pilot for about 30 years, and I’ve been teaching for seventeen," he adds.
This past November, Nick was also a part of the book premiere of Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook. Joining him were Alexis Christoforous, Guiding Light actor Frank Dicopoulos, Tony-nominated actor and American Idol alum Constantine Maroulis, as well as the author of the Loukoumi series Nick Katsoris and his young son, Dean. They all participated in a reading and a book signing.

"This book is for such a great and worthy cause," exclaims Gregory. "It’s incredible when you read the book and you see all of the wonderful contributions that people have made. The whole idea with the book is to get the whole family involved. It’s not just the parents doing the cooking, but we want everybody to be involved in the kitchen. It keeps the family together! I am honored to be a part of that." The recipe that Gregory chose to contribute for the Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook project is pastitsio, which is a Greek version of lasagna. “It has always been one of my childhood favorites as well,” adds Katsoris, “and Nick's recipe is perfect! I recently appeared on Good Day New York and we featured his recipe along with a few others. Everyone loved it. What makes his recipe even more special, however, is the story that goes along with it. As he says on his page in the book, his mother used to make pastitsio for him on the holidays and oftentimes he would come home and smell the aroma thinking that it was a holiday when it was instead a special treat from his Mom making an ordinary day that much more special."

The proceeds from Loukoumi’s Celebrity Cookbook benefit the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, as well as Cat Cora’s charity, Chefs for Humanity. "We have to do so much to help those that are less fortunate than ourselves," said Gregory. “In my business, a good day is sunny and 75 degrees. At the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a good day is when people feel good and when they are in no pain, and when they have hope for the future. That’s why we need to do these types of events to help out the ones in need.”

For Greek-American hopefuls who wish to become meteorologists, Gregory recommends that "they study hard! It’s a tough subject to learn, since it is made up of a lot of math and science, such as calculus and physics. You have to be pretty good in these subjects to get into meteorology. There’s going to be many opportunities for meteorologists, not just in broadcasting, but there’s also private forecasting and world’s climate is becoming a major story. There will be many opportunities for meteorologists in the future to do research and work on problems that occur with weather around the globe."

Ultimately, success for Nick Gregory is "when you realize at the end of the day that you’ve done the best job you could possibly do, and have achieved an inner peace, and look forward to the next day, not just professionally, but also personally, with your friends and family. When you put your head on your pillow at night and you close your eyes and say that was a good day! December 26, 2011, marked my 25th year anniversary with Fox 5 News. It’s been 25 great years, and hopefully 25 more!"