Piazza, Ron 

70 11/09/1939 05/26/2010 Born to Anthony "Tony" and Rose 
Piazza in Portland, Ron attended St. Philip Neri Grade School and 
graduated from Wilson High School in 1957. In 1957 Ron served 
as an MP (military police) in the U.S. Army. In 1958 Ron married 
Carol Ann Dentler. They had three children, Mike, Steve, and Sue, 
and raised their family in Damascus. Ron worked as a meat cutter 
for Safeway stores. In 1967, he and Carol formed Pizza by Piazza. 
What started out as a home business selling pizzas in his father's 
grocery store, has turned into one of the largest pizza 
manufacturing companies in North America. In 1993 Ron had the 
great pleasure of having all three of his children working in the 
family business with him. In 1979 Ron married Sharon Irene 
Fitzmaurice. They were married for 29 years until her passing in 
2008. Their life was filled with many years of hunting, fishing, 
skiing, and Reno, Nev., adventures. Besides being a successful 
businessman, he was an avid hunter bagging many trophy bull elk 
and deer. He also traveled around the West playing in many 
poker tournaments and enjoyed snow skiing, racing on several 
teams for fun and for charity. In his later years his greatest 
passion was fishing. He loved fishing for salmon, sturgeon, 
halibut, and tuna with his children, grandchildren, and many 
fishing buddies. People used to ask his children, "What's Ronnie 
doing?" Our answer was, "What season is it?" Ron is survived by his 
brother, Dick Piazza, and wife, Betty; son, Mike Piazza, and wife, 
Michelle (grandchildren, Aaron, Andrew, and Allie); son, Steve 
Piazza, and wife, Deonna (grandchildren, Danielle, Brianna, and 
Stephen; and six great-grandchildren); daughter, Sue Piazza, and 
husband, Michael Patrick, (grandchildren, Jared and Jeremy 
Tjaden); stepsons, Todd Fitzmaurice (grandson, Hayden); and 
Tyson Fitzmaurice. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. 
Saturday, June 12, 2010, in Greater Gresham Baptist Church. The 
service will be followed by a celebration of Ron's life at 4 p.m. in 
the Club Paesano, Gresham. In lieu of flowers, please make 
donations to Mount Hood Hospice, 39641 Scenic St., Sandy, OR 
97055.

Published in The Oregonian on June 6, 2010