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Crist's Fiancee Is No Stranger To Life At The Top

Sarasota Herald-Tribune photo

Carole Rome, and fiance Gov. Charlie Crist, arrive at the Longboat Key Club and Resort in Sarasota for an event in April.

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By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 9, 2008

TAMPA - Carole Rome, who is about to become Florida's first lady, is accustomed to high fashion, luxury and celebrity, but friends say she has a gracious common touch.

Rome has spent much of her life circulating among socialites in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Miami's exclusive Fisher Island.

She'll soon change her name to Carole Crist, accompanying Gov. Charlie Crist as he circulates among Republicans in Tallahassee -- and possibly as he plays out higher political ambitions.

But maybe the change won't be so jarring. After all, her family company specializes in Halloween costumes and novelties such as Whoopee Cushions.

In any case, friends say, she'll adapt.

"Yes, she has a social life, but if she's interacting with celebrities or high-profile people, it would be because of the work she's doing," said Linda Argila, a charity fundraiser and friend from New York. "She can be in the midst of many different types of people."

A High School Cheerleader

The two will be married Friday at St. Petersburg's First United Methodist Church.

Rome, who recently turned 39, grew up as the youngest of three daughters and two sons in a suburban New York family behind one of the nation's oldest novelty companies, Franco American Novelty Co.

Founded by her grandfather, Sam Oumano, and made successful by her father, Bob Oumano, it specialized in gag gifts and tricks.

As a girl, she was a cheerleader at Roslyn High School, a public school, and graduated in 1987.

According to her biography on the company's Web site, she graduated magna cum laude at Georgetown University in 1991, studying business and accounting.

She started work in New York as an auditor and then sold high-end real estate.

In 1993, she married New York businessman Todd Rome, and the couple soon became a fixture of the high-profile social life in New York and its affluent beach suburbs, the Hamptons. They hosted charity galas and partied with celebrities.

When her father began to suffer failing health, she joined the family company. When he died in 2000, she and her mother took over the company, said a former employee, Scott Altman of New York, who knew the family.

"She's a very smart woman, a good businesswoman, who helped keep the company alive after her father died," he said.

"It was a fun company to work for," he said. "Everything they sold either exploded or shocked you."

Carole Rome brought a sense of style to the business, coining the slogan "Where fashion meets Halloween" and focusing on sexy Halloween costumes – catsuits, devils and naughty nurses.

She also had two daughters with Todd Rome, now 10 and 12.

He and partner Richard Sitomer operate a charter jet service, Blue Star Jets. Todd Rome was a securities dealer with a history of trouble with regulators.

From 1990 to 1994, he and Sitomer worked for Stratton Oakmont, a securities firm that later was charged with using fraudulent practices and shut down by regulators.

The two then formed their own brokerage, Millenium Securities. In 2000, the National Association of Securities Dealers charged them with fraudulent stock trading. The two were fined $100,000 each, suspended from trading and ordered to cough up $1.1 million in profit.

They named Blue Star Jets for a fictional airline in the movie "Wall Street," which portrays a ruthless, greed-obsessed business executive.

Carole and Todd Rome separated in 2007 and were divorced in March, soon after she moved with her daughters to Fisher Island.

Their divorce documents reveal a lavish lifestyle.

According to news reports on the divorce filings, she sought alimony despite making more than $1 million a year, saying she needed to maintain a lifestyle that included nannies, chauffeurs and second and third homes.

Todd Rome accused her of lavish spending, saying that at her insistence the couple hopped among eight apartments and homes.

'The Man Of My Dreams'

Rome and Crist, who turned 52 in July, were fixed up by friends for dinner while he was in New York in September 2007 for a speech at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative.

They apparently hit it off right away. Soon after the meeting, "she said she had met a wonderful, caring man," Argila said.

Rome recently told the Tribune, "I have never been happier in my life. I have been so blessed to have finally found the man of my dreams. I am so in love with Charlie Crist, I cannot express how blessed I feel."

Argila and Rome became friends when Rome got involved in ARTrageous, an Argila fundraising project for a prominent New York charity for foster children. It pairs foster children with professional artists, auctioning the resulting artworks.

"She gets so involved, getting other people involved, meeting the children," Argila said. "She's one of the few that really get hands-on and also support through a contribution."

Rome also brought Crist into the charity. In May, he presented awards for the project at a New York ceremony.

The two will live together in Tallahassee, Crist said, and will maintain a residence in St. Petersburg, where he now rents a condo downtown, and may have a place in Miami.

He said he doesn't think Rome has decided where her two daughters will go to school. They now attend school in New York.

Crist has said he would like to have children, but there has been no public comment about whether that's in their plans.

Argila acknowledged that Tallahassee and politics aren't what Rome is accustomed to, although after she met Crist, she apparently became more interested.

She and Todd Rome both contributed to the John McCain presidential campaign, and she helped organize a fundraiser including Donald Trump in New York.

Argila said she expects Rome to move effortlessly into whatever society she finds herself in.

"As far as adjusting, she'll be a good member of the team."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski contributed to this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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