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Longtime Boardman restaurateur Anthony Saadey dies
By Kalea Hall and William K. Alcorn
Longtime Boardman restaurateur Anthony Saadey, 69, of Canfield, owner of Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center, died Tuesday in St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. He had been ill for some time.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Wasko Funeral Home. Services are at 3 p.m. Friday in St. Maron Church in Youngstown, where the family will greet friends from noon to 3 p.m.
Saadey was well-liked and respected by his peers in the restaurant business and others in the Mahoning Valley.
“Anthony was a great guy, and I am saddened by his death,” said Mark Canzonetta, a chef and co-owner of Aqua Pazzo Restaurant in Boardman.
“A long-standing pillar in the restaurant business, he was always helpful and straightforward and always had a smile on his face. We didn’t hang out, but I knew him as a gentleman and a professional,” said Canzonetta.
“I loved Anthony like a member of my family,” said Anthony Cafaro Sr., former president of Cafaro Co. in Niles, a longtime friend of Saadey’s. “He was a very strong, proud and respectful individual. He will be deeply missed,” Cafaro said of his friend.
“Mr. Anthony’s and its staff are a picture of consistency, a true testament to the dedication and hard work of Anthony Saadey. It was a success because he operated it,” said MVR owner Joe Cassese.
“His death is a loss to the community, and his legacy will live on through the great events they will continue to have at the place he established,” Cassese added.
Joe Saadey, Anthony’s nephew who owns the Upstairs Restaurant and Saadeys Place in Austintown, explained that Anthony was the kind of person who would do anything for anyone.
“There’s a lot people crying tonight, and certainly we will cherish the memories,” said Bruce Zoldan, a close friend of Anthony Saadey’s dating back to college. Zoldan, head of Phantom Fireworks of Youngstown, referred to Saadey as a “generous, loving person ... who will certainly leave a legacy in the Valley as a good guy; a gentleman.”
Saadey had other restaurant enterprises besides Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center at 7440 South Ave. in Boardman, which opened in August 1982. They included Anthony’s on the River and attempting to revive the closed B&O Restaurant, both downtown. Neither venture was a long-term success, according to Vindicator files.