Charles Vincent Paterno (born Canio Paternò, August 4, 1878 – May 30, 1946) was an Italian-born American real estate developer.

[1] Born in Castelmezzano, in the Italian region of Basilicata, to Giovanni Paternò, a real estate businessman, and Carolina Trivigno, Paterno emigrated to the United States due to financial problems caused by an earthquake which destroyed a construction project that his father was involved with.

[3] After his father's death, Paterno and his brother Joseph took over the family real estate business.

[6] The Paterno name is connected to the construction and the development of a number of modern, luxurious apartment buildings in the Upper East Side, Morningside Heights, and Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, including: Paterno died at the Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York, on May 30, 1946.

[10] The area was becoming increasingly residential, and The New York Times quoted Paterno as saying that "the many improvements in that part of the city...had led to a strong residential movement in that area with a definite demand for the finer type of garden type apartments.