A rescue search turned into a recovery operation Friday in Morris Township.
Robert Ricciardi, 87, the co-founder of the Ricciardi Brothers paint store chain, and his wife Gemma, 85, perished in an overnight fire at their Normandy Heights Road estate, a relative confirmed.
The couple’s godson, Tommy Casanola, looked stunned as he left the scene on Friday afternoon.
“I have no words to say, except they were the two greatest people in the world, and they don’t make people like that any more,” Casanola said. “They will be in my heart forever. Mr. and Mrs. Ricciardi were the nicest people in the world. That’s all I can say. The greatest people of all.”
The 3 a.m. fire was so intense that it was reported by pilots flying overhead, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll told a press conference.
In a subsequent statement, the Prosecutor’s Office said investigators were continuing a search for “potential victim recovery, and cause and origin of the inferno.”
Helicopter images from News12 and ABC7 showed the roof caved into the home.
In the early morning hours, “repeated efforts by firefighters to enter the burning structure to search for victims were unsuccessful due to the extensive scope of the conflagration,” the Prosecutor’s statement said.
Township Fire Chief Michael Nunn referred all questions to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“It’s an ongoing investigation. We’re still working the scene,” Nunn said on Friday morning.
Authorities closed Normandy Heights Road to through traffic as the investigation unfolded; at 5:43 pm they said it was reopened. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office and police from Morris Township and Chatham were among the law enforcement agencies at the site.
In 1970, Robert Ricciardi and his brother Walter took the reins of a family business that began in Newark in 1929.
Robert and Walter opened their Ricciardi Brothers paint store in Maplewood. They expanded the enterprise to 43 locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to the company’s website.
The mood was somber Friday at the Morristown store on South Street.
“He was a good old guy” who stopped in regularly, said an employee, who did not wish to give his name.
The Ricciardis’ former neighbor, Morris Township Committeeman Peter Mancuso, choked up when he learned of the couple’s passing.
Gemma “was one of the sweetest ladies in the world,” and Bob was gregarious and outgoing, “the kind of guy you could call anytime and say, ‘I need a friend to talk to, I need something done,’ and he’d be there for you,” Mancuso said.
Robert Ricciardi was a trustee of the Morris Museum, a short walk from his home.
“The Morris Museum is deeply saddened to hear this terrible news, and we send our best wishes to his family and friends and the whole Ricciardi paint company,” said Brett Wellman Messenger, curatorial director of live arts for the museum.
Galleries must be re-painted after each exhibition, and Ricciardi donated the paint, an immensely helpful gift, Messenger said.
Robert Ricciardi also enjoyed classic cars, a mechanical fascination that may have explained his support for the museum’s acquisition of the Murtogh D. Guinness collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata, said Steven Miller, the museum’s executive director emeritus.
“He was a model trustee, being generous with his time, advice, resources, and enthusiasm. He and Gemma always participated in all our important events, programs, and activities,” recounted Miller, who led the museum from 2001 to 2010.
“The loss of Bob and Gemma is a tragedy for the Morris area in so many ways. They were valued philanthropists for more than just the Morris Museum. My wife Jane and I were shocked to learn of this loss and we send our deepest condolences to the family,” he said.
