Eddie Pilla of Eddie’s Famous Pizza dies

Pretty sure I first met Mr. Pilla in 1951 as he and my parents ran in the same group from St. Luke’s in Richmond Heights. Don’t remember it though as I was a newborn but as all of the Luker’s showed off their newborns, and in a Catholic community during that era there were a LOT of newborns, that was probably the first time. Consciously it was a few years later. His daughter Kathy (Mary) and I were in the same grade at St. Luke’s and I once walked her home from school AND carried her books. I was infatuated (probably about 8 years old). In later years I watched him play corkball with my dad and the other dads at Luke’s field and attend every other church social event. As everyone noted, Eddie’s pizza were the best in the world. I never got to go in the main entrance as that was reserved for adult dinners but went with my dad tons of times via the side entrance to pick up pizza for dinner. Until I was older I could never figure out why he didn’t call ahead instead of ordering there where he had wait, killing the time having a few beers with his friends. My house was only a few doors from his so when I retired from the Army and moved home we ran into one another often, notably at the Maplewood monthly concerts where he was always surrounded by pretty women. He was always the perfect gentleman, polite and considerate to a fault…unless you were a male friend and then the sarcasm and innuendos flew in both directions with a mutual understanding that nothing was meant in earnest, just that the testosterone of the time required mutual teasing. He was a gift to St. Luke’s, Richmond Heights, Maplewood, his friends and his family. He will be missed but not forgotten.

I wish I had met Mr. Pilla in person, after reading his obituary. His obituary is one of the best I’ve ever read.