Remembering a NEPA Pizza Legend – John Rusak

At this time I need to rejoice the lifetime of a person whom chances are you’ll or might not be conscious of.  John “Roos” Rusak was a person that I by no means met in particular person, however I spoke with frequently.  John is a Pizza People hero, a legend of kinds, who by no means sought the highlight and quietly created the best Pizza Friday Streak of all time.  He is the Cal Ripken and Iron Man of NEPA Pizza and a buddy of mine.

He was a real buddy of NEPA Pizza Assessment, one among my earliest readers, and has contributed a lot when it comes to concepts, strategies, content material, and extra over time than I may even summarize right here.  Lots of the locations NEPA Pizza Assessment has visited, the options added to the web site, content material in articles, lists, and social content material, how the NEPA Pizza Insanity event is run and extra had been formed by John Rusak. 

Roos sporting his Halloween Pizza t-shirt, presumably able to preserve the pizza streak alive!

Considered one of my favourite conversations with Roos was over the cellphone once I was interviewing him for an article I was writing for Discover NEPA again in 2019.  He was telling me about his love for pizza and the way he and his spouse would go on street journeys and holidays.  The enjoyment and satisfaction in his voice when he described how his spouse would choose the locations, often involving some historic landmarks and sightseeing whereas John would analysis the pizzerias within the surrounding areas.  It was a dream group of pizza and historical past journey!

We spoke about a few of his extra noteworthy spots, however I could not assist however ask what his favourite pizzeria of all time was.  He decisively mentioned that Angelo’s Pizza – The One and Only in Wilkes-Barre was his #1 selection and all the time loved when his children would come residence and request a sauce-swirled Angelo’s tray.

I requested John a number of occasions over time if he would contemplate doing an interview or pizza evaluate on digicam with me as a result of I actually beloved what he was doing and was simply usually an throughout good man with an contagiously constructive persona that I knew my viewers would join with.  Seemingly by no means one for the highlight, he all the time politely declined however all the time provided his knowledge and perspective on native pizza which was so deep and huge.

John was gracious to share his ideas on pizza, however essentially the most spectacular factor I’ve seen with regard to pizza dedication was is meticulous recordkeeping of each pizza he is tried previously 7 years.  Try the in depth checklist of almost 350 pizzerias that he personally traveled to, tried, and reviewed beneath.  It is an epic and unmatched pizza streak that even essentially the most seasoned pizza bloggers cannot evaluate to!

John Rusak’s instagram account @jroos51 includes a treasure trove of native pizza pics and critiques!

John by no means bashed a pizza, nor was he overly opinionated towards a selected pizza.  He’d use a easy 👍 or an 👌 (or no emoji in any respect) to ship his scores.  A “thumbs up” meant John actually favored or beloved it.  An “OK” meant simply that it was okay, fairly good.  And if John did not use an emoji, he in all probability was referencing the previous adage “If you do not have something good to say, do not say it in any respect.”  You may see his pizza pics and critiques on instagram here.  It is an ideal useful resource and he covers even essentially the most obscure of pizzerias.  I encourage everybody to test it out!

I would like personally thank John for his kindness, friendship, generosity, and help over time.  I might additionally like to increase my heartfelt condolences, ideas and prayers to the Rusak household who had been form sufficient to succeed in out and alert me of John’s passing.  He was an ideal man and I do know he is in all probability watching over all of us having fun with a minimize of pizza persevering with his pizza streak for eternity.  Relaxation in peace Roos, I am going to consider you each #pizzafriday and lift a slice of pizza to you my buddy.

You will discover John’s obituary here and if you want to ship condolence messages, recollections, tales, and images to the household, please e-mail rememberingroos@gmail.com.  

And now for essentially the most spectacular pizzastreak documentation I’ve ever seen.  Take your time and scroll by to learn the entire pizzerias listed.  If you’re a pizzeria and Roos visited you, please share this put up in his reminiscence.