“Everything has to start somewhere, and in the case of the ubiquitous and financially troubled Sbarro pizza that place was Brooklyn at the delicatessen started by Carmela and Gennaro Sbarro. Gennaro died in 1984 and, Newsday reports, on Saturday Carmela—also known as “Mama Sbarro”—passed away as well. She was 90,” according to The Gothamist.

“Carmela first started working at a Naples butcher shop before she was 10 years old and soon enough met her future husband, Gernnaro, who worked across the street. In 1956 the pair moved across the Atlantic and soon opened their first shop in Brooklyn.”