Gary Bimonte wields big scissors at the opening of Pepe’s Pizza in Warwick May 14, 2018. Live video still by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Gary Bimonte has died after a life in which he became a third generation co-owner of the landmark Connecticut pizza shop Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.
A statement on the pizzeria’s website Thursday announced Bimonte’s death but did not say when he died or cite his age or a cause of death.
The pizza shop opened in 1925 and became a neighborhood anchor on Wooster Street in New Haven.
Pepe’s wood-fired thin crust pies were a measure of quality against which other pizzas were measured. Its white clam pizza won special acclaim.
There are now 12 Pepe’s restaurants in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.
