Daniel Amoroso, giant in baking world

THERE WERE many photographs of children in Daniel Amoroso's home. They were the offspring of the unwed mothers who were a special concern to this kind-hearted giant of the baking industry.

Amoroso, who, as president of the Amoroso Baking Co., was chiefly responsible for making Italian rolls and bread staples of the Philadelphia diet, was also a man who devoted his life to charitable causes.

He and his late wife, the former Jean DiSalvo, would often buy food, clothing and furniture for the unwed mothers in the area, usually delivering the goods to them personally.

He was proud to become the godparent of many of the children he helped save from poverty and despair.

Daniel Amoroso Sr., who really believed in the adage that one should leave the world a better place than he found it, died Tuesday. He was 91 and lived in Wynnewood.

Despite working seven days a week in his business, he found the time to deliver bread personally to the St. Frances Cabrini Home, in West Philadelphia, several times a week all his life.

He always donated bread and rolls to St. Donato Church for its annual carnival.

Amoroso made a habit of dropping in on the Little Sisters of the Poor, who ran a nursing home on Chester Avenue, to see what they needed. He would take bread, pies and ice cream to them and the residents.

During holiday seasons, he hand-delivered food baskets to the needy. As a lifelong member of the Overbrook Lions Club, he helped raise money to support the Overbrook School for the Blind.

He was still working seven days a week at the baking company until a few weeks before his death.

He started working there as a teenager as a baker and deliveryman.

He and his father, Salvatore, and three brothers, Vincent, Leonard and Salvatore, used a family recipe from Italy to make their baked goods.

The company began at 65th Street and Haverford Avenue and later moved to larger quarters at 845 S. 55th Street.

In the 1970s, Amoroso became president of the Philadelphia Baking Co., the former Penn Fruit Baking Co., and ran it for 20 years.

His wife of 63 years died in 2003. He is survived by two daughters, Trudy Calderon and Nancy Ash; a son, Daniel Jr.; a brother, Salvatore; nine grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Monday at St. Donato Church, 403 N. 56th St. Friends may call at 6 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 a.m. Monday at the D'Anjolell Memorial Home of Broomall, 2811 West Chester Pike, Broomall. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon.

Contributions may be made to St. Frances Cabrini Home, 6701 Callowhill St., Philadelphia 19151, or St. Donato Church, 403 N. 65th Street, Philadelphia 19151. *