John “Pizzie” Romano was a nice guy, first and foremost. Ask anyone who knew him, and they’ll tell you the same.
But Pizzie was also much more than that. The local businessman, restaurateur and longtime owner of the legendary Tugy’s Bar – the downtown Covington watering hole once favored by Northshore politicos – was also a deeply dedicated civic leader.
In addition to being a former member of the Covington City Council, he was also a founding member of the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees and was for years a member of St. Tammany Health System’s Board of Commissioners, serving as a liaison between those two bodies.
But, once again, he was more than that.
“Pizzie was our heart and soul,” health system Board of Commissioners Chairman John Evans said upon Romano’s death in 2018. “When the hospital was first opened, he and his high school buddies washed its windows. From his earliest days to his very final days, Pizzie loved this hospital, and we all loved him back.”
That brings us to today’s installment in our 70-part series chronicling the first 70 years of St. Tammany Health System.
Installment No. 32: ‘Our heart and soul’
Today’s artifact: A plaque outside the St. Tammany Parish Hospital infusion suite, dedicating it in memory of longtime Board of Commissioners member John “Pizzie” Romano.
Why it is significant: A hospital is only as good as the people behind it – and by all accounts, Pizzie was, indeed, a good one.
Although soft-spoken and good-humored, he took his role as a hospital leader seriously, using his experiences as a patient to inform his work as a board member and to advocate on behalf of the hospital.
So, when Pizzie passed away in December 2018 at age 81, there was no question that the health system needed to do something to honor his legacy.
Six months later, in June 2019, that something became reality, as the Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution saluting his service. In October of that year, the hospital’s newly expanded infusion suite was dedicated in his honor.
That included installation of a plaque outside the infusion suite reading: