Cake Boss' baker Sal Picinich has died at age 63, NorthJersey.com writes. Crotian-born Picinich passed of cancer, said his wife, Lucille. Sal baked for 45 years in Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, N.J., where TLC's reality series is filmed.
Buddy Valastro, the show's namesake "Cake Boss," viewed Picinich as a "second father," said Carlo's Bakery publicist Adam Bourcier. Picinich also worked with Valastro's father.
The fourth season of 'Cake Boss' began Jan. 24. Picinich's appearances on the show dwindled in late 2009, when his battle with cancer began. "The minute he didn't go down to Carlo's Bakery was the minute I knew Sal was starting to feel pain," Lucille said.
Fortunately Picinich "returned last summer to accept the Employee of the Century Award on the occasion of the bakery's 100th anniversary," NorthJersey.com writes.
Lucille Picinich said Sal, her husband since 1973, was "a man of little words" and was fond of the limelight 'Cake Boss' put him in. "We'd go to Applegate Farms [in Montclair, N.J.] and all of a sudden people would say, 'Hey, there's Sal!'" she said. "We went on a cruise last summer and he was spotted on the Oasis."
TLC released the following statement: "TLC was saddened to learn of the passing of Sal Picinich, a beloved Carlo's Bakery employee featured on 'Cake Boss.' We join Buddy Valastro and the entire Carlo's crew in sending Sal's family our sincerest condolences."
