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Obituaries

Joseph P. Moretto Sr. | Pipe Shop owner, 76

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Joseph P. Moretto Sr., 76, of Havertown, former owner of the Pipe Shop in Upper Darby, died Thursday at Delaware County Memorial Hospital of a heart attack.

For 28 years, Mr. Moretto and his wife, Loretta Bellino Moretto, sold tobacco, candy, magazines and newspapers at the Pipe Shop. "The store was his baby," his wife said. After it was sold in 2004, he helped the new owners, she said, and was there almost every day, chatting with his old customers.

Before operating his business, Mr. Moretto had been a welder for the Baldwin Locomotive Works while also delivering bread for Amoroso's Baking Co. He then ran his wife's family's furniture store in West Philadelphia with her brother for five years before buying the Pipe Shop.

Mr. Moretto graduated from St. Thomas More High School in West Philadelphia and met his future wife on the trolley while commuting to school.

He was a former Eagles season-ticket holder, and enjoyed boating, fishing and hunting deer.

In addition to his wife of 54 years, Mr. Moretto is survived by sons Joseph Jr., Michael and Robert; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

A Funeral Mass will be at noon today at St. Dorothy Church, Township Line and Burmont Roads, Drexel Hill. Friends may call from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. at D'Anjolell Memorial Home, 2811 West Chester Pike, Broomall. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.