Mario Borgatti, Legendary Bronx Pasta Maker, Has Died At 97

Mario Borgatti, the legendary pasta craftsman and patriarch of Borgatti's Ravioli and Egg Noodles on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, has died at the age of 97, reports The New York Daily News.

Borgatti was 17 when he first began working at the noodle shop owned by his parents, who moved to the U.S. from Bologna, Italy.

Mario made the pasta by hand for the next 15 years, until his parents imported a pasta machine from Italy in 1950. Even then, Borgatti was there, after his brothers left for other jobs, to make sure the pasta was just right.

"He would be on oxygen and still come to the store," Mario's son, Chris Borgatti, told The Daily News. "He just loved being there."

Chris Borgatti, 56, now runs the family business, and has spent the last 40 years making pasta alongside his father.

"He always said his success was the joy he gave to families who bought his pasta," Chris Borgatti said of his father.

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Karen Lo is an associate editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @appleplexy.