Ninfa Laurenzo

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Family

American restaurateur from Houston, Texas, called "Mama" by many of her customers, who founded the restaurant Ninfa's in 1973. Laurenzo started out running a single taco stand in Houston, Texas. Ninfa Rodriguez, a Mexican American Catholic, was one of twelve brothers and sisters. In 1945 she visited her twin sister, Pilar Di Meo, in Providence, Rhode Island. During her visit, she met Domenic Thomas Laurenzo, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laurenzo, a native of Rhode Island, was of Italian descent. Rodriguez, who had nicknamed Domenic Laurenzo "D.T.," married him. In 1949, they opened the Rio Grande Tortilla Company factory, which sold pizza dough and tortillas. The couple entered the business even though both of them had professional degrees. The factory was located in a Hispanic community in the East End. The Laurenzos lived in a wooden frame house next to the factory. The couple had five children. Domenic Laurenzo died of a brain hemorrage in 1969. Ninfa Laurenzo's factory eventually hit trouble due to increased competition and decreased profit margins. In 1973 Laurenzo opened a 10 table restaurant in front of her tortilla factory in order to financially stay afloat. The restaurant, Ninfa's, became very popular and it became her core business. She did not have prior restaurant management experience. While at the restaurant, Laurenzo greeted guests, watched over the kitchen operations, and sometimes sang songs in an alto voice. In addition to Ninfa's, as part of RioStar Corp. Ninfa Laurenzo and her family established other restaurant ventures. Laurenzo participated in Republican politics. She was a personal friend of President George H.W. Bush. In 1984, Bush, then Vice President, appointed her as one of the five goodwill ambassadors to welcome Pope John Paul II in Puerto Rico. Laurenzo's children said that this was the proudest moment in her life. In 1988, while in New Orleans, Louisiana, she delivered a speech that seconded Bush's nomination for president in the that year's election. In June 1999 Laurenzo was diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer killed three of her sisters, including her twin sister Pilar. Laurenzo served as the key note speaker of a cancer forum, giving a speech to 2,000 people. The forum was sponsored by the Reach to Recovery of the American Cancer Society. In 2000 she underwent a mastectomy to treat her breast cancer. Ninfa Laurenzo died of bone cancer at the age of 77 on 17 June 2001 in Houston, Texas. Link to Wikipedia biography