Vincenzo “Dontino” Maltempi immigrated from Italy in 1953 at age 32 and set about fulfilling the American Dream, working for a cement company and then for Fairlawn polymer company A. Schulman Inc.
It wasn’t until 1975 that he turned his love of cooking into his livelihood, buying with his son, Carlo, an old bar and eatery in Akron’s North Hill that would become the landmark Dontino’s Italian restaurant.
Mr. Maltempi, who lived in Tallmadge, died Thursday after suffering a stroke several days earlier. He was 95. His funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 83 Mosser Place, Akron.
Dontino’s, known for uncomplicated, comforting Italian fare, including homemade pasta, will be closed through Wednesday, reopening at 11 a.m. Thursday.
“We saw the potential there” at 555 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave., Carlo Maltempi said. “We had $300 and we put it all into the place. We started making money right away.”
These days, a third generation is helping to run the restaurant: Carlo Maltempi’s sons, Anthony, 36, and Frank, 41.
Anthony Maltempi said that on many mornings he and his brother had the good fortune to be at the restaurant, enjoying espresso with “the two most important men in our lives — our father and our grandfather. Our grandfather was the epitome of the American Dream.”
Mr. Maltempi had the notion to someday own a small pizza shop when he and his son, Carlo, heard the old LaVita Gardens on East Cuyahoga Falls Avenue was for sale. Mr. Maltempi quit his A. Schulman production job, and his wife, Anna, quit her seamstress job at the former O’Neil’s department store downtown to run the kitchen.
For years, the Maltempis called their enterprise Dontino’s LaVita Gardens, paying homage to the bar and eatery that had been on North Hill — an area that was a hub for Italian immigrants — since 1930.
LaVita’s popular steak sandwich remains on the menu.
After Mr. Maltempi retired in about the mid 1990s, he continued to visit the restaurant many mornings to check on things. After he quit driving, his son would pick him up.
He was last at the restaurant a week before he died and ate white pizza with anchovies — a favorite, his son said.
Carlo Maltempi recalled that his father enjoyed visiting with customers, and was sad when the restaurant’s expansion — more than 20 years ago — cramped his style.
“It wasn’t the idea of expanding that he didn’t like,” Carlo Maltempi said. “It was the idea that [in a bigger place] he didn’t have time to get to everybody.”
Carlo Maltempi said his father loved gadgets, buying the first type of transistor radio and stereo on the market, and was fond of soccer and traveling.
Anthony Maltempi said his grandfather “loved life, and he loved family and he believed in a strong work ethic.”
At times, Anthony Maltempi said, his grandfather could be a man of few words.
“But all you had to do was look at him and see that smile,” his grandson said. “That spoke more words than anything.”
Mr. Maltempi is survived by his wife of 72 years, Anna; son, Carlo (Salvatrice) Maltempi of Tallmadge; sisters, Cecilia Di Pietro of New York and Francesca (Sonny) Ciccolella of Delaware; brothers, Giuseppe Maltempi of Italy and Giovanni (Ada) Maltempi of New York, along with five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com.