‘Cake Boss’: Buddy Valastro Shares Photos From Late Mother Mary’s Funeral
Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro laid his late mother Mary Valastro to rest on June 27.
Valastro took to Instagram to share photos of the outside of the family’s flagship Carlo’s Bakery store in Hoboken, New Jersey, which showed the storefront covered in flowers for his late mother — affectionately known as Mama Mary — who passed away on June 22 aged 69 after battling ALS.
Buddy shared the photo with his more than 2.4 million followers on the social media site which showed the words “#1 Grandma” and “Mama Mary” as well as a stunning replica of the store’s iconic front, which even featured cakes in the window, made completely out of flowers.
The world famous baker simply captioned the image taken outside the bakery “Hoboken” with a heart emoji.
Buddy’s sister Mary also shared a similar image of the array of flowers to her own Instagram account which she captioned in part, “thanks for being the best Mom.”
Carlo’s Bakery employee Ralph A Attanasia III — who is featured heavily on the TLC realty series due to his role as a sculpture and decorator at the popular family bakery — also confirmed on social media that the reality family laid Mary to rest with what was sure to be an emotional funeral for the mom of five.
“Today we said goodbye to a truly singular, vibrant woman, Mary Valastro,” Ralph tweeted following the funeral.
“She always had a song on her lips & made sure we were taken care of,” the Cake Boss star continued of the late matriarch.
Mary’s funeral took place after Valastro confirmed that every one of his family owned bakeries across the globe would be closed for the day in honor of his late mother.
Though the Valastro family didn’t confirm at the time that the closure was so the reality stars and their employees could attend Mama Mary’s funeral, the official Instagram page of Carlo’s Bakery confirmed last week that every bakery would be closed on June 27 to pay tribute to the late Cake Boss star.
Noting that the closure was “in observance of mourning,” the message stated that the Valastro family’s numerous bakeries across the globe in New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, and Brazil would all remain closed for the day but would be open again as normal on June 28.
It’s not yet clear if Buddy and his four sisters, whose private and professional lives are featured on the TLC reality show, have returned to work in the wake of their mother’s sad passing.
Mama Mary was heavily featured alongside her family member on Cake Boss for the first few seasons but only appeared on the popular baking series intermittently after revealing her battle with ALS on the reality show in 2014.
Buddy confirmed his mother’s death on Instagram on June 22, where he shared with his followers that the matriarch had passed away that morning while surrounded by family. He asked for “patience” and “respect” from fans as he and his kin mourned her passing.
“Her battle with ALS has ended, she is no longer suffering,” the Cake Boss star wrote of his mom, “and I hope she’s dancing to ‘I Will Survive’ with my dad right now.”
Leave your messages of condolence for the Valastro family below.
[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Vegas Uncork’d by Bon Appetit]
