Cossetta's owner unexpectedly passed away in Rome

It's so dynamic on the avenue, and he loved that, and he loved talking about it, and he loved showing people how he did it. One of his idols was Walt Disney, and I always would call it Cossetta Land down there. Our top story tonight, the city of St. Paul and beyond, remembering culinary icon Dave Cossetta. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'm Randy Meyer. And I'm Kelsey Carlson. Loved ones say that Dave Cossetta passed away unexpectedly in Rome. Maury Glover joining us live from outside the restaurant tonight. And Maury, Dave Cossetta was deeply loved. That's right. Cossetta is synonymous with the St. Paul dining scene. Now the city is mourning the loss of a local legend. Sad day. Very sad day. Friends say when Dave Cossetta won a pair of awards at the Panettone World Cup in Milan over the weekend, it was one of the high points of his life. But days later, that life was cut tragically short. For me, he was my best friend. I've known him for 50 years. I lost not only a dear friend, fellow restaurateur, a mentor, somebody who I just enjoyed being around. Pat Mancini says a couple of hours after taking this photo at the Vatican, Cossetta and a friend were packing samples of the Italian Christmas cakes to deliver to the Pope when he suddenly collapsed and died in his hotel room from what appears to have been a heart attack. Mancini says Cossetta was traveling with a group of friends and family members in Rome for vacation and was still flying high from achieving his years-long dream of earning recognition at the prestigious international competition. A lot of people just kind of in shock. There was no goodbyes, there was no, for me, heavy loss, heavy loss. Mancini says Cossetta's passion was feeding people, whether it was turning his family's Italian grocery store into a culinary destination in St. Paul, or making meals for thousands of U.S. service members in places like Kuwait and Iraq through the nonprofit he co-founded called Serving Our Troops. He loved doing that, and he was good at it. Mancini says Cossetta's personality was larger than life, and now so is the legacy he leaves behind. He'll be missed not only in this city, cuz he was very important in this city, he'll be missed now worldwide. And his panettones will hopefully live on forever, I guess. Now Mancini says after Cossetta passed away, his friends actually delivered those panettones to the Vatican because they say that's what Dave would have wanted. Back to you. Yeah, much like Pat, Dave loved the people he served. He greeted them, he talked to them, he knew so many people, and now so many people will miss him. Yeah, I'm sure his family is so thankful that he was able to see that competition through and he was riding so high before all of this. Thank you, Maury.