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Vic Cassano Jr., who rescued his father’s legacy, Cassano’s Pizza, from mismanagement and bankruptcy, is remembered as a man of determination and integrity.
Cassano, 65, died unexpectedly early Friday, May 28, from natural causes, according to a family statement.
“I asked him once what his greatest professional accomplishment was, and he said it was leading Cassano’s through monumental change,” said family spokesman Ron Campbell.
“He always had the weight of 500 people, us, on his back,” said Campbell, president of U!Creative, which handles advertising and marketing for the company. “He wasn’t just thinking about himself. He was thinking about all the families of everyone who worked for him.”
Born March 19, 1945, Cassano, a polio survivor, practically grew up with the pizza brand co-founded by his father Vic Cassano Sr. and grandmother, Mom Donisi in 1953. Over three decades the family added 125 stores and in the mid-1970s was ranked in the top four pizza chains in the country by the National Restaurant Association.
Cassano Sr. retired and sold the company to Greyhound Food Management Inc. in 1986.
In 1989, Cassano Jr. and former Greyhound executive Randy Leasher repurchased the company, but had continuing financial difficulties and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1995. Leasher subsequently pleaded guilty to embezzling $709,000 from the company over a six-year period and in December 2000 was sentenced to three years in prison.
But Cassano Jr. didn’t give up, and worked hard over the next several years to pay off debts and invest in the company, while closing a number of stores. He brought in his wife, Sharon, sons, Chris and Chip, and daughter, Lora Cassano Hammons, to help operate the company.
“We are 100 percent a family business now,” Cassano Jr. told the Dayton Daily News in 2005.
“He never gave up,” Campbell said. “He worked tirelessly. And he has the company poised to go to a whole new level.”
Campbell said Cassano Jr. had been preparing his sons for 10 years to take over the company this summer.
“We’re about 30 days out from when that would have gone down,” he said.
“Although this has caught everybody by surprise because there were no health issues. He was already preparing to move into the next phase of his life and watch his sons do the third generation operation of it.
“They’re saddened, there’s sorrow, it’s unexpected, but they are fully competent and prepared to continue operations, move forward and fulfill the vision he had for the future. That’s without a doubt.”
Today, the company operates 34 restaurants, franchises and a wholesale dough operation.
An active outdoorsman and wood carver, Cassano Jr. had been working for a year on an autobiography to be released in 2011, tentatively titled “My Life, A Pizza Pie!”, according to a statement from the family.
“With a deep commitment to Jesus Christ, he recently said the purpose of his book was to share with everyone that ‘There’s a way around trials and there is hope at the other end... by turning things over to God,’” the statement said.
Cassano is survived by his wife (and childhood sweetheart), Sharon; their sons, Vic “Chip” Cassano III and Chris Cassano; daughter Lora Cassano Hammons; five grandchildren; and over 500 employees who he considered extended family.
Arrangements are as follows:
• Viewing: Tuesday, June 1st, from 4-7 p.m. at Routsong Funeral Home, 2100 E Stroop Rd., Kettering.
• Funeral: Wednesday, June 2nd, 10:30 a.m., at St. Frances of Assisi, 6245 Wilmington Pike, Dayton.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2393 or kmccall@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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