Joseph W. Litto Sr.; cake was his canvas

Joseph W. Litto Sr., 92, owner of the former Litto's Bakery in South Philadelphia who was an artist at decorating cakes, died of colon cancer Friday at home in Southwest Philadelphia.

Known as the baker who made cakes for life events from "cradle to grave," Mr. Litto baked a tombstone for a customer's 65th birthday party. "I told her she was the first person who ever saw her tombstone and then ate it," he said in a 1990 Philadelphia Daily News report.

In addition to cakes shaped like cradles for christenings and showers and towering wedding cakes, Mr. Litto baked cannolis, ricotta rum cream cakes, sfogliatelli - clam-shaped fat pastries stuffed with cream - and catered dinners.

Mr. Litto's father, Orazio, who emigrated from Messina, Sicily, opened the bakery in 1930 in a small shop down the street from its location at Ninth and Christian Streets, where it thrived until it closed in 1998. The family lived above the bakery.

The eldest of eight children, Mr. Litto quit school at 16 to work in the bakery with his father and mother, Josephine. Over the years, other family joined the business.

"My grandmother read wedding announcements in the paper and contacted brides to sell cakes," said his son, Joseph Jr., who took over the bakery in 1995.

Mr. Litto married Clare Everett in 1949, and they were baking partners for life.

"My father baked in that shop for more than 60 years," his son said. "After my dad retired in 1991, they still came in to make cannolis. They put 20-year-olds to shame with their skill and speed."

When Mr. Litto was drafted in 1943 by the Army, he baked for soldiers and officers in Europe.

"He made pastries for Gen. Eisenhower," his son said.

Mr. Litto had a joke for everyone. When his brother George became a Hollywood producer (Blowout, 1981, and Dressed to Kill, 1980) and his son was an actor in New York for a few years, Mr. Litto told them, "Always remember, there's no business like dough business."

In addition to his wife, son and brother, Mr. Litto is survived by a granddaughter and three sisters. A Funeral Mass will be said at 1 p.m. today at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, 10th and Christian Streets. Burial will be private. Donations may be sent to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105.