Robert Petrillose Sr., founder of Cornell’s beloved Hot Truck, died December 8 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Petrillose grew up in the restaurant business as the son of the owner of Johnny’s Big Red Grill in Collegetown. He started the Hot Truck in 1960—according to legend, inventing the concept of French bread pizza. His signature sandwiches spawned their own nomenclature, from the PMP (Poor Man’s Pizza) to the MBC (meatball and cheese) to the infamous Suicide, or Sui—garlic bread with sauce, cheese, mushrooms, sausage, and pepperoni. At one point, the truck even had its own mini-dictionary.
As Mark Anbinder ’89 writes in a tribute on 14850.com: "Through the 1990s, Petrillose worked every night when students were in town, taking a break when classes weren't in session. He and his wife prepared their homemade meatballs and Italian link sausage in their home kitchen on Pleasant Grove Road, and then he, usually working with just a sole student taking orders, slipping trays in the ovens, and packing up the sandwiches, worked late into the night filling the stomachs of students, alumni, townies, and visitors. After an afternoon of prepping, Petrillose would arrive on Stewart Avenue around 10 p.m. most nights. . . On busy nights, typically Fridays and Saturdays, the crowd wouldn't be gone, and he wouldn't go home, until 4 a.m. or later."
After four decades of late-night pizza-making, Petrillose—affectionately known as “Hot Truck Bob”—retired in 2000 and sold the business to the owner of Ithaca’s Shortstop Deli; while the truck still does a brisk business at the base of Libe Slope, its menu items are also available at the Shortstop’s downtown location. The Cornell alumni website has set up a page for remembrances of Petrillose and the Hot Truck—which even has its own Facebook group. As the Ithaca Journal notes in a paid obituary, Petrillose is survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Sharon Follett Petrillose ’52, three children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.