Joseph "Buddy" Chiapparelli, owner of Chiapparelli's Restaurant in Little Italy, died Friday of cancer at his Roland Park home. He was 66.
For more than 30 years, Mr. Chiapparelli was proprietor of the family restaurant at 237 S. High St. that serves Neapolitan and Northern Italian dishes.
Noteworthy guests included President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, baseball Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson and football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas.
Mr. Chiapparelli took over operation of the restaurant in 1960 from his father, Pasquale Chiapparelli. He and a partner became the owners in the mid-60s, and doubled the size of the establishment Mr. Chiapparelli's Naples-born father opened as a pizzeria in 1944.
"Everybody loved Bud at the restaurant," said his wife of 29 years, the former Mary Kathryn Sleichter. "He not only greeted people at the restaurant, but sat and talked to them and got to know their families."
"It was a family restaurant, but he was the mainstay. He was a seven-day man. He was always there. He loved that place. He was on a first-name basis with thousands of people," said his brother Louis Chiapparelli.
Mr. Chiapparelli was born and reared in Little Italy. He was educated at St. Leo's grammar school in Little Italy and Loyola High School. He later attended University of Maryland.
Mr. Chiapparelli served in the Navy from the late 1940s to middle 1950s in the submarine service. After leaving the Navy, he provided tours of the USS Torsk at the Inner Harbor and participated in many submarine veteran activities.
Mr. Chiapparelli was an opera lover as well as an avid skier and jogger. He helped in the coordination of the Maryland Marathon.
A Mass of Christian burial was to be offered at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, 5300 N. Charles St., Baltimore.
In addition to his wife and brother, Mr. Chiapparelli is survived by a daughter, Lauren Ann Chiapparelli; a son, Bryan Louis Chiapparelli; his mother, Anna P. Chiapparelli; and two other brothers, Nick Chiapparelli and Charles Chiapparelli, all from Baltimore.
The family has suggested contributions to the charity of one's choice.