Market's Pete Delaurenti: Store Founder, Kindly Legend

Pete DeLaurenti, one of the legends of Pike Place Market, is gone, his striped apron folded, his kindly presence now a memory for legions of customers.

The Italian American who entered the food business as a bread deliverer and left it as founder of DeLaurenti Specialty Food Markets, died Sunday, Nov. 1, of gastrointestinal problems. He was 88.

"He was just a little guy who came to work with a brown shopping bag in the morning and shuffled home with it at night," said his son and store owner, Louis DeLaurenti.

"But he just loved the customers and wanted to see them every day. . . . He'd always agree with them as long as they were spending money."

Since the end of World War II, when Mr. DeLaurenti bought a shop on the lower level of the Market, the store was a gathering spot for the Mediterranean community. Regulars came in daily "for a pound of this, a few ounces" of that, newspaper stories say.

After 1972, when Mr. DeLaurenti's son bought it and moved it to the Main Arcade, the store was among the first places to offer pizza by the slice and takeout espresso, over Mr. DeLaurenti's initial resistance.

"He was surprised I was able to buy the business and keep it going," said his son, who took long vacations after initiating changes, to give his father time to adjust. "But he adjusted. He came in three days a week until his eyesight failed."

Mr. DeLaurenti continued to work regularly at the store until 1988.

Born in Newcastle, he moved with his family to Turin, Italy. At 19 he returned to Seattle and delivered bread door-to-door for Seattle French Bakery, now Gai's Northwest Bakery.

He met many small grocers and thought he might like to open a grocery himself. In the mid-1940s he bought a market owned by his wife's mother and gave it his own stamp.

"Pete DeLaurenti was selling gourmet food years before its time," said another Market veteran, Solomon Amon. "He was selling it 30 or 40 years ago - things like feta and kasseri cheese, olive oils, special bread. Now they're all selling it."

A newspaper story in 1986 called DeLaurenti's a trendsetter in Pike Place Market's rebirth, as well as in gourmet cooking's popularity.

"Pete really gave people their money's worth," Amon said. "He had quite a following."

Other survivors include his wife of 66 years, Mamie DeLaurenti, and his brother, James DeLaurenti, of Seattle; his son Martin DeLaurenti, Mercer Island; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Services are at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Monica Catholic Church, 4301 88th Ave. S.E., Mercer Island.

Remembrances may go to American Diabetes Association, Washington Affiliate, 577 Roy St., Seattle, WA, 98109; or Hospice of Seattle, 425 Pontius Ave. N., Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98109.