Emperor X Gabriel Della Notte aka Gary Cosgrove was born in New Jersey.  A graduate of Rowan University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Gary oversaw several youth recreation programs in the town he grew up in Wood-Ridge from 1978 to 1983. In 1983 Gary was elected to the Wood-Ridge Town Council. At age 24, he was the youngest elected town councilman and a Democrat! He served on the Council for 3 years from 1983 to 1986.
After leaving Public Office, Gary continued to serve his community. As one that has been there and come through, he reached out to others who needed help in their fight against addiction, chairing many 12 Step program-related committees over the past 24 years and will celebrate his 25th year being clean and sober in June 2010.

In 1989, Gary was confronted with the death of several very close friends who had lost their battle with AIDS. He decided to join the fight against this horrific disease. After managing a nightclub in 1990 where he met a variety of celebrity impersonators, he created Cozmic Productions and “The Fabulous Fakes”. To this day, the “Fakes” perform for many benefits and fund raisers, supporting many organizations including Friends for Life, Deborah Hospital, Hearts and Voices, Camp Viva, New Jersey Buddies, and PWAC of New Jersey. Through the Pfizer Philanthropy Department, Gary garnered a grant for Friends for Life in 1997. That same year, Friends for Life named him their “Man of the Year”.  In 2006, Gary served as President of the Board of Trustees for Friends for Life until 2008.

Gary has been a member of the Imperial Court of New York for the last 15 years where he has continued to raise public consciousness of the continuing fight against AIDS and other life threatening diseases. Gary has chaired many Ball Committees for Night of a Thousand Gowns, Reigned as Emperor in 2000-2001, served seven terms on the Board of Directors and is currently serving as Board President for the last three years. Under Gary’s leadership, the ICNY has been responsible for several projects that were earmarked for direct services in the community. Supplying turkeys for Thanksgiving for the residents of Bailey House, awarding six scholarships over the last three years to students from Harvey Milk High School, organizing a Meet & Greet with Judy Shepard and having the NYC Council declare October Matthew Shepard Month. He has also organized a Matthew Shepard Foundation fundraiser in Washington during the March for Equality weekend raising close to $15,000 that even brought out pop artist Lady Gaga to the event. Under Gary’s direction, organizations all around the metro area have reached out for ICNY participation, such as the GLAAD Media Awards, Amfar’s Rock the Park, Life BEAT’s Hearts & Voices program, Bailey House’s Open Your Heart Auction, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Broadway Bares & Shubert Alley Flea Market. Over the years and as president Gary has brought thousands of dollars of sponsorship monies to Night of a Thousand Gowns. Such notables as Coors/ Cocoa Cola/Absolut/JetBlue Airways and Virgin America Airlines to name a few. Bring top notch talent to perform is never easy but Gary has brought such crowd favorites as Cyndi Lauper, Darlene Love, Barbara Cook, France Joli, Amber & Michelle Williams to entertain the audiences at NOATG. Gary has even raised money for the American Heart Association by producing the “Heart Attack Show” after suffering a massive heart attack back in 2007.

Although small battles are continuously won, the war against AIDS is far from over. With the support of his family, friends, the Imperial Court of New York and especially his partner of 13 years, Emperor XI Damian Valentino, Gary’s boundless energy and benevolent dedication spurs his continuous fight. Their love and encouragement enable him to forge ahead in his commitment to not just the HIV/AIDS community, but to the LGBT Community as a whole. For that he is eternally grateful.