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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Ash Wednesday will forever be remembered by the Ricci family.</p><p>In the early 1960s, Angelo Ricci opened his Hazle Street pizzeria on the holy day, when many area Catholics abstaining from meat typically sought out pizza and pierogies. It has been a busy day for the business ever since.</p><p>On Ash Wednesday this year, the region&#8217;s &#8220;patriarch of pizza&#8221; passed from this life, son Angelo Ricci Jr. said. He was 87.</p><p>&#8220;He built this up from nothing,&#8221; Ricci Jr. said of his father, describing him as a &#8220;self-made man.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We lost a great guy today.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Work and family</strong></p><p>Ricci Jr. said his father started the business in 1963, purchasing a restaurant formerly called Anita&#8217;s, located elsewhere on Hazle Street. Ricci ran the business under the original name for about a year, before renaming it Angelo&#8217;s after himself.</p><p>Shortly after, Ricci purchased a meat shop at 445 Hazle St., and converted it into a pizza shop. That&#8217;s where Angelo&#8217;s is located to this day.</p><p>The Ricci family is well acquainted with pizza: Ricci Jr.&#8217;s son, Bill, took over the original location after the founder&#8217;s retirement. Meanwhile, Ricci Jr. owns Ricci&#8217;s Pizzeria on Park Avenue, and his brother, Gerry, owns Gerry&#8217;s Pizzeria on Carey Avenue.</p><p>Each pizzeria owned by the family has roughly the same menu, with Ricci Jr. adding the family members work together to make sure the shops succeed.</p><p>The family of pizzerias is perhaps best known for its &#8220;sweet sauce&#8221; pizza, with sauce that is notably sweeter and less savory than a more traditional pizza sauce. Ricci Jr. says the sauce was originally made by the son of a longtime employee at Angelo&#8217;s. When his father added it to the menu, Ricci Jr. said it became a hit.</p><p>Ricci Jr. said nothing would be changing at the pizzerias; however, he did say they would be closed Sunday and Monday for his father&#8217;s viewing and funeral.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Loss for the city&#8217;</strong></p><p>On Wednesday, business at Angelo&#8217;s carried on very much as usual.</p><p>Inside, employees were busily making pizzas with a machine-like precision. One employee slapped the dough until it resembled a pie, before passing it off to the next station. Sauce was scooped on, and was passed again.</p><p>Cheese, pass.</p><p>Toppings, pass.</p><p>In what seemed like only 30 seconds, the pizza was slid into the oven and the process started again.</p><p>Bill Ricci told a reporter he would typically be working on a day as busy as this, but he needed to take a break on this Ash Wednesday.</p><p>He remembered his grandfather as a caring man who would do anything to help the people he loved.</p><p>Ricci was a Korean War veteran, Bill said, and always tried to help people in the city he called home &#8212; one of the pizzeria&#8217;s employees was heard describing Ricci&#8217;s death as a &#8220;loss for the city.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He would help the fire department, give them pizza on Christmas,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you were short a few cents, if you asked, he would never really say no.&#8221;</p><p>Bill said his grandfather was given the key to the city by then-Mayor Tom Leighton in recognition of the pizzeria&#8217;s 50th anniversary.</p><p>But it&#8217;s not just the pizza Bill wants his grandfather, who he described as a &#8220;legend,&#8221; to be remembered by.</p><p>In all the photos on the walls of the pizzeria, Angelo Ricci could be seen flashing a broad smile, taking obvious joy in feeding the people of Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>&#8220;I want people to remember him by his smile,&#8221; Bill said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Angelo&#8217;s Pizza is seen on Hazle Street in Wilkes-Barre. Angelo Ricci, who founded the business in the early 1960s, died Wednesday at 87. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL030719Ricci2-5.jpg</photo0><caption0>Angelo&#8217;s Pizza is seen on Hazle Street in Wilkes-Barre. Angelo Ricci, who founded the business in the early 1960s, died Wednesday at 87. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ricci-1-1-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ricci-1-1-3.jpg</photo1><caption1></caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL030719Ricci1-6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Photos of Angelo Ricci lie on the counter at Angelo&#8217;s Pizza on Hazle Street on Ash Wednesday afternoon. Employees could be seen making pizza with tears in their eyes after learning that Ricci died Wednesday morning at 87. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL030719Ricci1-6.jpg</photo2><caption2>Photos of Angelo Ricci lie on the counter at Angelo&#8217;s Pizza on Hazle Street on Ash Wednesday afternoon. Employees could be seen making pizza with tears in their eyes after learning that Ricci died Wednesday morning at 87. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> TFALTZYeNBs</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFALTZYeNBs</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

‘Patriarch of pizza’ Angelo Ricci passes away at 87