Dominick Tassone Jr.'s Obituary
Dominick Tassone, Jr., 66, passed away Sunday, March 27, 2011, at his home in Bridgeport, N.Y. . Widely known in the Syracuse area as the founder of Dominick’s Restaurant, he was also the founder and benefactor of numerous community charities, including “Meatball Madness.” An annual benefit for the Elm Crest Children's Center, Meatball Madness features meatballs and other Italian specialties from a dozen area restaurants competing for the trophy as producer of the “Best Meatball in Town.” This year’s fund raiser attracted nearly 2,000 donors.
Mr. Tassone was the son of Sally Stott and Dominick Tassone, Sr., a baker from Calabria, Italy, who immigrated to the United States in 1935. Along with his 5 siblings, 2 sisters and 3 brothers, the younger Tassone grew up learning the trade in his father’s restaurant, Modern Bakery, on Park Street.
He graduated from Liverpool High School and joined the U.S. Marines Corps in 1962, serving until 1970. In 1963, he married Mary Collins, with whom he had five children.
In 1980, Mr. Tassone began demonstrating that he had learned not just baking and cooking in his father’s restaurant, but also how to run a successful business. With the help of his wife and children, he opened his own restaurant, Dominick’s, on Burnet Ave. A breath-taking pastry display at the entrance greets patrons as proof of his talents. All the Italian breads and pastries are baked in house. Suppliers and patrons knew that Dominick could always be found at the rotating oven in his downstairs kitchen. You couldn’t leave without trying his eclairs or mountain-high macaroons. One of his mottos was, “No one leaves Dominick’s Restaurant hungry.” Year after year, Dominick’s Restaurant would win the Syracuse New Times “Best Family Restaurant” or “Best Italian Restaurant” amongst other awards.
Mr. Tassone’s family presence in downtown Syracuse is continued by his daughter Debbie, who serves her own specialties and pastries from Biscotti Café on North Salina Street. Many also used to frequent L’il Dominick’s in Hastings, which was owned by Dominick III. In the 1990s Mr. Tassone’s business acumen began finding outlets beyond the restaurant. He founded Pappy’s Ice Cream, sold restaurant equipment, participated in various successful real estate ventures, and even operated an auto dealership for several years.
Although modest and quiet, Mr. Tassone was a natural at building businesses, and he gave freely of his time and experience helping family and friends with their businesses. In recent years, Mr. Tassone became a Syracuse icon as much for his generosity and caring, as for Dominick’s Restaurant.
A liver recipient in 2007, Mr. Tassone established the Mary Dunn Scholarship at East Syracuse-Minoa High School for students entering Early Childhood Education. The organ donations by Mary Dunn Houston of East Syracuse had helped save five lives, including Mr. Tassone’s.
Mr. Tassone was also awarded for his contribution of a building to Ray Rinaldi, another Syracuse icon, who founded the West Area Education and Athletic Center on Geddes Street. Mr. Tassone saw potential in Rinaldi’s gym and boxing club, which now helps turn young lives around. He was also a trustee at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Bridgeport, N.Y.
As befitted a man devoted to serving wholesome, traditional foods, Mr. Tassone had a life-long passion for gardening. He cultivated gardens at his homes in Brewerton and Bridgeport and often proclaimed the joy of walking barefoot “through the soil and feeling the earth between your toes.” He always kept acres of basil, peppers, and tomatoes, which routinely found their way into the fare at Dominick’s.
Through his well-known pumpkin patch, Mr. Tassone found yet another way to reach out to the community. He annually hosted a Halloween Party attended not only by family and friends, but also by children with special needs from East Syracuse-Minoa’s Elementary schools. Each year the children would look forward to hay rides, cotton candy, and Italian delights from Dominick’s Restaurant.
Dominick loved boating, riding sea-doos and fishing with his grandchildren at his home. The zippy golf cart would turn his manicured lawn into Daytona 500. Nothing pleased him more than sending his grandchildren home covered in mud from the four-wheeling in the corn fields.
People often described Mr. Tassone as a “man of few words,” and many noted his greatest gift: he attracted goodness. He was a keen judge of character, and he spent his time with those who had a good heart. Even with his great success as a restaurateur , Dominick was a humble and selfless man.
Surviving are the mother of his children, Mary Tassone; his oldest daughter, Cynthia Harrington, 48, the manager of Dominick’s Restaurant, of Liverpool, daughter Annette Tassone, 45, an Applied Psychologist, who is married to Franco Dichio living in New Jersey, daughter, Deborah Camire, 44, the pastry chef and owner of Biscotti Cafe, along with her husband Geoff Camire, daughter Lisa Crowell, 41, a Spanish teacher at Nottingham High School, who is married to Scott Crowell, and Dominick III, his son, 39, a chef, now located in Ithaca, N.Y., 13 grandchildren, Kaitlynn, Alissa, Ryan, Miranda, Olivia, Lucas, Isabella, Romina, Mollina, Anna, Gerald, Gianangelo, and Joshua; his former spouse, Sue Hall Tassone; 3 brothers, Samuel Tassone of Cicero, William (Judy) Tassone of Liverpool and Gerald (Rosie) Tassone of Ft. Lauderdale, FL., 2 sisters, Anna Tassone of Central Square and Linda Clarkson of Bridgeport; his Aunt Angie Mondo and his Uncle Bill (Peggy) Tassone; also many nieces, nephews and cousins.
Funeral services will be conducted on Friday at 8:30 AM in the THOMAS J. PIRRO JR. FUNERAL HOME, 3401 Vickery Rd., (corner of Buckley Rd.) North Syracuse, NY and 9:30 AM in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Liverpool. Burial will follow in Riverview Cemetery, Baldwinsville. Family and friends may call at the funeral home on Thursday from 3 to 7 PM. Contributions can be made to the Mary Dunn Scholarship Fund at East Syracuse-Minoa High School, 6400 Fremont Road, East Syracuse, NY 13057, the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, 30 Corporate Woods of Brighton, Suite 220, Rochester, NY 14623 or the American Diabetes Association.
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