Man's seafood business grew from one truck

Stephen E. Benyo started his seafood supply business in 1954 working out of his home with one truck to make deliveries.

Fifty years later, Pittsburgh Seafoods, located in Monroeville, has more than 30 employees and lists as its customers a who's who of the club and restaurant business, both in Pittsburgh and throughout the United States.

Mr. Benyo, of Green Tree, died on Sunday, Nov. 14, 2004. He was 86.

"When Dad started his company in 1954, he delivered to restaurants and taverns in primarily steel mill communities, while Mom took orders over the phone in our kitchen," said his son, Stephen, now president of the business.

"Dad was astute enough to realize in the late 1940s, when frozen lines of food were becoming popular, that this was the business that was going to go places, and he was never disappointed."

Mr. Benyo got his start in the food business shortly after he was discharged from the Navy in 1947. "Dad worked for a local meat packing company while acquiring his high school diploma in the evening at Taylor Allderdice High School," his son said.

"As a boy, Dad never had the opportunity to finish school. My grandfather, who was a miner and also worked in a factory, died while Dad was still in high school. There were 13 children in his family, and it was up to Dad, who was the oldest, to go to work to help his mother."

Prior to leaving for the service in 1944, Mr. Benyo married Florence Moschetti, an East Liberty woman he had met at Geneva on the Lake in Ohio.

"Mom was the mainstay of the business," said their son, who started with the company when he was 11 by stacking boxes. "When Dad was able to purchase the refrigerated truck and some inventory from his employer in 1954, they started the business out of their home in Carnegie.

"Even after they were established, Mom continued to take care of the office and the books while raising her family. Dad, who had hired a helper, was calling on prospective customers."

With the demise of many neighborhood taverns in steel mill towns after the mills closed, Mr. Benyo focused his customer base on clubs and restaurants that offered gourmet dining.

"In the early days, most of the seafood we handled came from the North Atlantic," his son said. "Today, our customers want exotic seafood, so we have seafood shipped in from all over the world."

Mr. Benyo and his son enjoyed drag racing at tracks, and Mr. Benyo played golf regularly at the Nottingham and Rolling Hills country clubs and was active in his Masonic orders, including the Shriners.

Mr. Benyo is survived by his wife, Florence Moschetti Benyo; two daughters, K. Loren Dawn, of Tucson, Ariz., and Deborah Berwyn and her husband, Mark Smith, of Nashville, Tenn.; a son, Stephen W. Benyo and his wife, Margareth, of Plum; three grandchildren; two brothers, Edward Benyo, of Westmoreland County, and Thomas Benyo, of Nashua, Iowa; and two sisters, Josephine Perry and Virginia Perry, both of Cleveland.

A service will be held at 11 a.m. today at Beinhauers, 2630 W. Liberty Ave., Dormont. Interment will be in Jefferson Memorial Park, Pleasant Hills.