The funeral for St. Louis restaurant icon Charlie Gitto Sr. takes place at 10 a.m., Thursday, at the Cathedral Basilica, with interment at Resurrection Cemetery. Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, at Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary on Chippewa Street.
Gitto died on Saturday, at the age of 87, due to complications from a heart attack. He was a fixture and the heart and soul of his downtown restaurant, Charlie Gitto’s, on 6th Street.
“He was there nearly every day in his ‘office,’ a seat at the bar, the best seat in the house he called it, where he could see his entire restaurant,” A statement on the restaurant’s Facebook page said. “Charlie Sr. poured the love he had for the restaurant business into his son, Charlie Gitto, Jr., at an early age, who was inspired to open Charlie Gitto’s On the Hill in 1981, a family tradition that continues today with Charlie Jr.’s son, Anthony.”
In lieu of flowers, donations in Gitto’s name may be made to the American Heart Association, 460 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141, Alzheimer’s Association, 9370 Olive Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63132, or Backstoppers, 10411 Clayton Rd., Suite 203, St. Louis, MO 63131.