Ex-Restaurateur Eugene Leone Dies

Eugene Leone, former owner and operator of the famed Mamma Leone’s restaurant founded by his mother in New York’s theater district, has died after a long illness. He was 88.

Leone’s daughter, Luisa Leone Mesereau, said in New York that her father died Saturday in Los Angeles. She said he had suffered a stroke, the last in a series dating back six years.

Leone was born in Italy in 1898 and came to the United States shortly afterward. He became owner of Mamma Leone’s, founded in 1906, after his mother, Luisa, died in the early 1940s. He ran the Manhattan restaurant until it was sold to Restaurant Associates three decades ago.

Leone and his wife, Mary, moved from New York to Laguna Beach, Calif., in 1979. She died in 1982.