ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – The City of Elmira is honoring a late local restaurateur known for his multi-generation Italian restaurant by declaring June 9 as a day in his memory.

Vito Manzari passed away on June 1, 2022 at the age of 92. Manzari was born in Elmira in 1930 and married in Italy 29 years later. When he was 35, he took over Manzari’s Grill in Elmira as the second-generation Manzari to own the business. When he retired, Manzari handed the restaurant over to the next generation.

Elmira City Mayor Dan Mandell issued a proclamation stating that June 9, 2022 as Vito V. Manzari Day.

The proclamation from Mandell said, “Vito had the gift to gab; always stopping to talk to people wherever he was, whether he knew you or not; by the end of the conversation he not only would know you, but make connections to your relatives as well”.

Manzari was buried at St. Peter & Paul’s Cemetery on June 9.

Read the proclamation from Mayor Mandell below: