Columbia owner talks overcoming debt, resilience in commencement speech

Richard Gonzmart encourages graduates to remain steadfast when facing hurdles. "I have a gift. I think differently. If someone says something can’t be done, I say, watch me."

By Business Observer Staff
| 5:00 a.m. May 23, 2023
| 0 Free Articles Remaining!

Columba owner Richard Gonzmart told St. Leo graduates that after the company overcome financial issues in the 1990s "I promised God I would dedicate my life to helping others in need..."

Entrepreneurs

Tampa restaurateur Richard Gonzmart, fourth-generation owner and caretaker of Columbia Restaurant, recently delivered a commencement speech at St. Leo University in Pasco County.

Speaking to graduates and their family and friends May 13, Gonzmart — whose great-grandfather, Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez, opened Saloon Columbia in 1905, serving workers of cigar factories in Ybor City — talked about his struggles in school as he reordered letters, making reading difficult. As a running back for his high school football team, “I transposed my numbers,” he told the graduates, according to a St. Leo statement. “I didn’t know whether to go this way or that way.”

Gonzmart was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADD when he was 43, which gave him an understanding of how he thinks. “I have a gift. I think differently. If someone says something can’t be done, I say, ‘watch me,’” Gonzmart said — to cheers from the crowd.