'Cake Boss' and family mourn loss of 'Employee-of-the-Century' Salvatore Picinich

Doug Bauman/The Jersey JournalVeteran "Cake Boss" baker Salvatore Picinich is seen doling out the cannoli on June 19, 2010, during the bakery's centennial celebration in Hoboken. Salvatore "Red" Picinich, a longtime employee of Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken and former cast member on the hit reality series "Cake Boss," died Sunday after a year-long battle with cancer.

He was 63.

A resident of Carlstadt, the veteran baker is survived by his wife Lucille.

Picinich was born in 1947 on the small Croatian island of Susak and immigrated with his family to Hoboken when he was 16.

His parents sent him straight to work in an Italian bakery where he started out washing pans and soon became righthand baker to the late Buddy Valastro Sr. at the original Carlo's bakery on Adams Street where he worked for 45 years.

It was there where he would meet his wife of 37 years who worked part-time at the bakery after school.

"Carlo's was everything to him," she said. "He was so dedicated. Work always came before family with Sal. He worked hard all his days and he was proud of the product that he put out."

His favorite pastry was a cream-filled lobster tail and Picinich was a stickler for using time-tested, "old-fashioned" baking techniques, as he told the New York Post in a 2008 interview.

The baker is also survived by two children, Danielle Picinich Reinoso and Salvatore Picinich, two grandchildren, four siblings and the employees at Carlo's where he is remembered as a good friend, mentor and honorary patriarch to the Valastro family.

"Sal was like a second father to me and I thoroughly enjoy every moment that we spent together," said "Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro Jr. in a statement. 

Many of these moments have been preserved on the reality series, including a special episode filmed over the summer in honor of the bakery's 100th anniversary in which Picinich accepted an award for "Employee-of -the-Century."

The premiere episode of the show's fourth season aired on TLC Monday night and was dedicated to Picinich's memory.

Described by his wife as a quiet and humble man, Valastro's sisters Mary Sciarrone and Madeline Castano remember a personal confidante.

"He was very special to us," said Castano. "He was our family. It wouldn't be the same without him... He was a good person to talk to."

The Valastros visited Picinich shortly before his death.

"I said, Sal, now you're gonna go bake with my Dad," Sciarrone said. "I know they're baking up there."

The wake is scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday at Kimak Funeral Home in Carlstadt with a funeral Mass scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph's R.C. Church in East Rutherford.