HAMILTON, Ont. — Industry veteran Ron Ciancone, founder of Pearle Hospitality, has died at the age of 74.
A Hamilton native, Ciancone got his start when he took over his family’s Hillcrest Restaurant after finishing high school and in 1979 he opened the Ancaster Old Mill with his brother David.
Jeff Crump, owner of Earth to Table Bread Bar in Hamilton and Guelph, started at the Ancaster Mill as chef in 2001 and remembers Ciancone as a “gregarious guy” who was full of life. “I always said ‘I want to be Ron when I grow up’ because he still was relevant … in the restaurant,” Crump told The Hamilton Spectator. “He just got to come in and engage whenever he wanted to. Certainly his opinion was well regarded because he’d been through it all twice.”
Ciancone remained involved in the Pearle Hospitality properties by consulting and advising and also went back to school to study horticulture and landscaping, opening his own business at age 70.
Ciancone is survived by his wife of 48 years, Mary Lou, his six children and 18 grandchildren.
