Former Angelo’s owner remembered for accomplishments, personality
Michel Passalacqua couldn’t pick just one word to describe her father Silvio.
“He was a character,” she said Friday. “He just had a big personality. He was a fun guy, funny. He was very real. He was a very loving father and a good friend. He was tough. He was a disciplinarian, but he taught us the important things in life. His confidence and belief in us gave us the fortitude to go on in life because we knew he had our backs. ”
Silvio Passalacqua, best known as the owner of Angelo’s Restaurant in Washington, passed away Tuesday as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He died six days shy of 94th birthday, which he would have celebrated Jan. 15.
Michel, who lives in Fair Haven, New Jersey, is one of Passalacqua’s three children, along with her twin brother Michael and their younger sister Tonne, who lives in Colorado.
While Passalacqua may have retired from the restaurant business more than 30 years ago, Angelo’s still operates at its 2109 North Franklin Drive location. Michael now operates the restaurant.
During his days of working at the restaurant, Passalacqua did a little bit of everything: he was bartender, host, maintenance man and employer. You name it, he did it, including remodeling Angelo’s on several occasions.
“He knew his customers,” Michel said. “He greeted everybody. He was a part of other people’s lives there. People come to the restaurant for happy times or sad times. Our family became a part of their story and they became a part of ours. He was intertwined in a lot of peoples’ lives because of the business he was in and because of the person that he was.”
Silvio’s parents, Angelo and Giacomina Passalacqua, were the founders of Angelo’s, but Silvio became involved at a young age. He eventually took over with his sister Camelina DiStefano in 1958, five years after their father passed away in 1953, when Silvio was just 23 years old.
He changed the business, known as “The West Chestnut Spaghetti Inn” from being more of a tavern to placing more of an emphasis on the family restaurant side of things.
“There were only a few restaurants in Washington at the time,” Michael said. “He had the vision to make it not just a tavern anymore.The biggest move he made came in 1958 when they took the bar from one side of the restaurant to the other side, and the big room to the dining room and the small room the bar. He had the vision to know what was coming and took advantage of it.”
But there was a whole lot more to Passalacqua than the restaurant.
He had a passion for youth wrestling, a sport in which he participated at Washington High School. He was instrumental in the sport in the early 1960s and was a fixture in wrestling for many years with the Brownson House, Trinity High School and the Old School Boys Wrestling Classic, serving on the committee for that event for more than 25 years.
“He was an icon of the sport at that time,” Michael said, adding that his dad had a working relationship with many Division 1 wrestling coaches.
In 2018 the NCAA wrestling tournament was in Cleveland and it was in Pittsburgh the following year. Michael took his father to both events and got emotional recalling how many people took the time to greet his father.
“You would hear someone saying Mr. Passalacqua,” his son recalled. “They would want a picture and they thanked him for what he did for them. That happened multiple times at both tournaments.”
Passalacqua also was known for his singing voice. In fact, his daughter said Passalacqua, whom she called a “crooner,” had aspirations of being a big-time singer. He was the vocalist for the Johnny Cimino Orchestra, a big jazz band that played all over the area for several years.
“My dad had perfect pitch,” Michael recalled. “My dad could sing like (Frank) Sinatra or Tony Bennett or any of those guys. He just had it. This entire little orchestra, mostly Italian-Americans from Washington, Pennsylvania, was an amazing band.”
One frequent stop was the Alpine Club, where he met his wife Patty.
“He said to the drummer, see that lady over there, go tell her I want to marry her,” Michel said. “She looked at him and gave a thumbs up and two years later, that was it.”
His many other achievements included the invention for hand reloaders of ammunition for hunting called a K-Spinner, which is a device to clean the brass after the resizing procedure.
Michael said his dad enjoyed big-game hunting.
And, he was a master carpenter, building his house, as well as a log cabin in the woods. Passalacqua was building and remodeling until the age of 91.
A fitness enthusiast, staying in shape through many activities, Passalacqua enjoyed water skiing, snow skiing, jogging and hiking. He skied into his mid-80s, until rotator cuff issues slowed him down.
“He was a non-stop workaholic,” Michael said of his father. “He ate right, worked out and took care of himself.”
Michel added that their mother was very instrumental in Silvio being able to do as much as he did.
“My mother was the reason my dad could be the man he was with his hobbies and whatever it might be,” she said. “She gave him the grace and the space to be that person.”
Passalacqua also was extremely involved in the community, serving as chairman of the board of the North Franklin Business and Recreation Improvement Authority. He served as a North Franklin supervisor for two terms up until he was 91 years old.
He also was quite meticulous about his lawn, affectionately earning the nickname the “Lawn Ranger.”
“We weren’t allowed to play in our yard,” Michel recalled fondly.
“We could play in the lot beside the house but we weren’t allowed to play in the yard because we would mess up the grass,” added her brother.
Michel got emotional when recalling a post she saw on Facebook from someone talking about her father that she feels sums him up well.
“What a warm, sincere person he was,” read the post. “Silvio was the kind of guy you liked to spend time with. I really think that says a lot.”
Friends will be received from 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today at Warco-Falvo Funeral Home in Washington. A prayer service will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the funeral home, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, St. James Parish, 119 West Chestnut Street, Washington. Burial will follow at Washington Cemetery.
Following the burial, Angelo’s Restaurant will host an open house celebration of his life from noon to 3 p.m. Friends, family, former employees, guests, and anyone he touched are invited to come and share in his life.
The family has asked any who wish to honor Passalacqua’s life make contributions to the American Parkinsons Disease Association or to Amedisys Hospice.