Nicholas Raymond Cerio  Nicholas Raymond Cerio was an American martial artist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 9, 1936 and died on October 7, 1998 in Warwick, RI. Nick Cerio was born July 9, 1936, in Boston, Massachusetts. At a very young age, he took on many odd jobs to raise money to help support his family. At the age of 10, he moved with his family to the Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island. In his youth Cerio initially became interested in boxing as a teenager. Cerio began martial arts training under George McCabe after being exposed to judo in the Air Force. He then studied Karazenpo Go Shinjutsu under George Pesare and received his first black belt in May 1966. Cerio opened his first martial arts school, "Cerio’s Academy of Martial Arts". Through his participation in karate tournaments he came in contact with Edmund Parker. They would have a relationship that spanned nearly twenty years. After Cerio met with William Chun, Sr. (Chow’s senior student), he was granted permission to study with Chow. Cerio visited Hawaii for two weeks in the mid to late 1960s to live and study with Chow. In training, Cerio made to assume low, painful stances and throw as much as 500 weighted, full force punches. If he relaxed his stance, more punches were required. Cerio often commented on this period's influence on him and the development of his system, Nick Cerio's Kenpo. Cerio considered Ed Parker his senior, mentor and coach because he offered great insight and he was a great resource in contributing to the formation of Nick Cerio's Kenpo:  “"Ed Parker was never my instructor, but more like my coach. He was my senior because we came from the same kenpo family. I used a lot of Ed Parker’s ideas in my system."” (Liedke, Inside Kung Fu)  Cerio never learned all of the curricula of Parker’s American Kenpo, however he was awarded a 3rd degree black belt in Kenpo Karate (Sandan) by Parker. Parker awarded Cerio a 9th degree black belt (Kudan) in Kenpo Karate in 1983. During the late 1960s Cerio studied Hakkoryu Jujutsu, first receiving his brown belt in 1968 from James Benko and later received his 1st black belt (Shodan) from Larry Garron.