Pechin’s founder dead at 87
DUNBAR TWP. – The founder of one of the area’s most popular supermarkets will be fondly remembered by his family and friends for his dedication to his loved ones, business and customers. Sullivan “Sully” D’Amico, 87, whose Pechin’s market has received national attention and is visited regularly by not only area shoppers, but also those from West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland, died late Tuesday.
“We’re going to miss him,” niece Marie Martin said Wednesday. “He was one of those people that just can’t be replaced.”
Martin said her uncle began the business in 1947 in the basement of a home that still stands at the entrance of the shopping plaza. Later, he sold his nearby residence in order to purchase the property where the landmark business is now located.
“From there it just grew: the department store, the four lumber yards, four Vocelli Pizza franchises and the Denbo Marina in Brownsville,” Martin said. “His enjoyment was working.”
Martin said her uncle instituted the popular nickel cup of coffee, the 19-cent hamburger and the free meal offered to senior citizens on Mondays, and despite urgings from family members to increase the costs, he stood firmly against those suggestions.
“He said that he gave it to the customer and it was going to stay that way,” she said. “He never cared how much money he was losing.”
Sullivan D’Amico was also never one to ask an employee to do a job he was able to do himself or to assist in doing, added Martin.
“It was nothing to see him putting down (blacktop) or doing anything that needed done,” she said.
Despite his deteriorating health over the past few months, said Martin, D’Amico could be found in the office and when that became too burdensome he would park his vehicle in the parking lot and review the daily activity with those in charge.
“He never complained, and if you asked how he was, he would tell you ‘just fine,'” she said. “He was a very kind-hearted, good person.”
D’Amico’s grandson, Donald D’Amico Jr., said that his earliest memories included working alongside the family patriarch, preparing Jell-O for customers who would shop at the market.
“I was only six or seven,” he recalled. “My sisters and I would be here every summer.”
After graduating from college, Donald D’Amico said, he joined his grandfather in overseeing the family-owned lumber business, while his father assumed the day-to-day operation of the grocery store and other related departments.
“He taught us that you have to work hard every day and that success does not come easy,” said Donald D’Amico. “You have to treat your customers fairly and give them the best prices for the best products.”
State Sen. Richard A. Kasunic (D-Dunbar) credited the businessman with instilling in him the worthiness of hard work. During the early 1960s, Kasunic worked at the Monarch outlet store owned by the D’Amico family.
Kasunic said he never had a specific job at the store. Some days he would help customers carry their purchases to their vehicles or help unload a truck filled with merchandise.
During the winter, he might have the responsibility of tending to the coal furnace or sweeping the floors.
“You helped grind the hamburger or slice luncheon meat,” he said. “Whatever needed to be done, you did it.”
It was not uncommon, said Kasunic, for a worker to have Sullivan D’Amico at his side while stocking shelves or packing grocery bags.
“He taught me about accountability and responsibility and what hard work and effort is all about,” said Kasunic. “Who would have thought that young kid firing the furnace would become a state senator?”Mr. D’Amico taught me very valuable lessons at a very young age, and I will always be grateful to him for that.”D’Amico was born on July 17, 1917, in Dunbar, son of Domenic and Caroline D’Amico.
His parents, brother Lewis D’Amico, and sister Irene Maddas preceded him in death.
He was awarded the 1998 Ernst and Young Western PA Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Salt and Light Humanitarian Award in 1999.
He was a member of St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church in Dunbar, Carmichaels Chamber of Commerce, Connellsville Chamber of Commerce, Fayette Chamber of Commerce, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Sons of Italy No. 231, Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, and the Juniata Sportsmen’s Club. During World War II, he served his country with the U.S. Army, and was a member of American Legion Post 146.
Surviving are two children: a son Donald R. D’Amico and wife, Mary Jane of Dunbar; and a daughter, Carol Ann Spooner, and husband, Ray, of Wellington, Fla., and their mother, Lydia D’Amico of Wellington, Fla.; five grandchildren, Patricia, Donald, Amy, Suzanne and Michelle; nine great-grandchildren; sisters Jenny Maddas and Helen Klink, both of Dunbar; a brother, Michael D’Amico and wife, Donna, of Bradenton, Fla.; and a special niece, Marie Martin of Dunbar.
Friends will be received in the Stephen R. Haky Funeral Home, 603 N. Gallatin Ave. Extension, Uniontown, today and Friday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 9 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday in St. Aloysius Church at 10:30 a.m., with the Rev. Fr. J. Edward McCullough as celebrant. Private entombment will be held for the family at Sylvan Heights Chapel of Memories Mausoleum, where AMVETS Post 103, Hopwood, will accord military honors. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Sullivan D’Amico Charitable Fund, P.O. Box 345, Dunbar, Pa. 15431.