Theresa S. Sausto

Theresa S. Sausto (Suozzi) passed away on May 19, 2024. Theresa was born on July 9, 1925, to Daniel Michael and Celeste (Mignona) Suozzi in the Bronx, NY.  She is predeceased by her parents, her brother and sister and her beloved husband of 71 years, Patsy J. Sausto in 2020.  She is survived by her four children, Joseph (Stacey), Patrick, Christopher and Giselle, as well as three grandchildren, Daniel (fiancé Rachel Linehan), David and Haylee.

Theresa graduated Roosevelt High School in the Bronx in June 1941 at the age of 15.  She then worked at Hearst Newspapers in New York where her culinary heritage was quickly relied upon to help guide the company’s numerous magazines’ recipe and food articles.  Theresa married her childhood sweetheart, Patsy J. Sausto, in June 1948.  Patsy and Theresa met when they were 16 years old at the Pleasant Acres Resort in the Catskill Mountains.  They happened to live in the same neighborhood in the Bronx.

After World War II, Theresa and her husband settled in Westchester County.  Patsy’s parents started and owned Pleasant Acres, the most thriving and well known Italian American summer Resort in the Catskill Mountains.  Eventually Theresa and her husband joined this business, and they ran Pleasant Acres.  Together they helped to expand the resort to 160 guest rooms to become the largest Italian American summer Resort in the Catskills at the time.  Among other duties, Theresa ran the kitchen that served over 1,000 meals a day seven days a week.

Theresa was organized and a natural leader.  While her children were growing up, Theresa became President of the Mothers’ Clubs at all her children’s’ schools, including The Chapel School in Bronxville, Salesian High School in New Rochelle, Fordham Prep in the Bronx and The Ursuline Academy in New Rochelle.  Her leadership and fundraising skills raised tens of thousands of dollars for each of these institutions.

Theresa had a love for cooking and a thirst to study this art. She took many cooking classes including Chinese cooking and loved to throw dinner parties with an abundance of food, all which she prepared herself.  An invitation to Theresa’s house was always a coveted culinary event.

Theresa retired in 2001 at the age of seventy-six and spent the rest of her years with her family in Albany, New York and Deerfield Beach, Florida.  She is particularly thankful to her daughter, Giselle, whose company enabled Theresa to live her final years in her own home.

A private service, for immediate family only, will be celebrated at St. Thomas Church in Delmar.