Dave Cossetta, fourth-generation owner of Cossetta Restaurant in St. Paul, died suddenly in Rome after winning two international awards at the Coppa del Mondo del Panettone days earlier, according to a statement released by the restaurant Thursday.
No information was given on the cause of death.
Cossetta began in 1911 as a small market in St. Paul. It remained a family-owned restaurant and market and became “a gathering place on West 7th Street, where everyone was welcome at the same table,” Cossetta’s statement said.
“He never stopped dreaming of what it could become,” the statement said about Dave Cossetta. “His next chapter was to bring Cossetta to the nation beyond St. Paul through panettone, which he had spent more than 15 years perfecting.”
Panettone is a traditional Italian sweet bread that originated in Milan and has become a specialty of Cossetta.
“Above all, Dave loved his family, his city and the people who passed through its doors,” the statement said.
Former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman had known Cossetta since the late 1980s, when the restaurant owner hosted Saturday breakfasts with the city’s “wise men.”
“During the lean years, when, you know, people were moving, he was building. He gave so much. He cared so much,” Coleman recalled. “What he produced was such excellence, on every level. So yes, a very big hole in the heart of St. Paul today.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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