High-profile businessmen to pay personal tributes to cafe guru Sisto Malaspina
Melbourne business titans Lindsay Fox and Harold Mitchell will pay personal tributes to murdered cafe legend Sisto Malaspina at his state funeral on Tuesday.
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Melbourne business titans Lindsay Fox and Harold Mitchell will pay personal tributes to murdered cafe legend Sisto Malaspina at his state funeral on Tuesday.
Trucking magnate Fox and media buyer Mitchell were close friends of Malaspina, the Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar co-owner who was killed in the Bourke St terror attack on November 9.
Mr Mitchell said he would always remember Sisto’s smile and unerring hospitality.
“I’m honoured to be asked to speak at the funeral. I first went to Pellegrini’s in 1976 and have been a regular ever since,” he said.
The businessman said he took many guests and visitors to the coffee mecca, including Kevin Rudd when he was foreign minister.
“I just loved taking international people there. They couldn’t believe it and then Sisto would take us for a tour of the kitchen,” he said.
“I drink skinny lattes these days but (Sisto’s) long black was too much for me. But he always insisted I had cake — but that was Sisto.’’
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Hundreds of people are expected at the funeral to remember the much-loved cafe pioneer, which starts at 10.30am at St Patrick’s Cathedral in the city.
Governor Linda Dessau will also speak at the service and a Malaspina family member will deliver the eulogy.
Thousands of floral tributes were laid outside Pellegrini’s last week as Melburnians struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.