Family tree thrives at Reading Terminal Market

Tootsie Iovine-D'Ambrosio turned over a menu the other morning and sat down at her counter to sketch a family tree. A family tree of all the Iovines who work at the Reading Terminal Market. All 17 of them.

"Let's see," she said, beginning with her and brother's spot: Tootsie's Salad Express. There's her brother, Tony. Shy Tony, who handles all the books, bills, and worrying.

Young Tony, who's learning the ropes from dad.

Her daughter Maria, who's as outgoing as her mom, and Maria's adorable little Vinnie. He's a year-old now and his babysitter takes him to visit Grandmom and Mommy at work three days a week, his little blue broom hanging on a hook behind the counter.

And Tootsie's brother Bobby, the cook and self-described best-looking and most popular Iovine.

And Tootsie. Next to her own name, Tootsie wrote: "Welcoming."

Of the Iovine clan - a presence in the market for a quarter century now - Tootsie is the hospitality chairwoman. That's an actual title the merchants association gave her: chairwoman of the hospitality committee. No one else is on the committee. No one needs to be. Tootsie's got it covered.

If the Iovines are one of the First Families of a market that's facing unprecedented change as development comes to East Market, then think of Tootsie's counter as the terminal's family room.

The character that the Iovines and other longtime merchants bring to the market is more important than ever. That's why people come to the market in the first place. For the experience. For the soul of the place. For the characters it draws.

Like at Tootsie's. Tootsie is 53, sings at Sunday Mass at St. John the Evangelist parish, and wears her Marilyn Monroe costume to work every Halloween.

Though Tootsie is no soft touch, she collects people - people who need help. People like Tony Reid, a formerly homeless military veteran, who now calls the corner of Tootsie's counter his "office." Tootsie fed him when he was hungry and urged him into housing. Now, she helps manage his finances, making sure his rent gets paid. And he's just one of the people Toots helps.

"Our blessings come because of our generosity," she likes to remind her brother Tony.

Two months ago, Tony Reid asked if he could repay her kindness with "volunteer service." So now, two mornings a week, when Maria opens up on her own, Tony Reid sets up at his office to keep an eye out for thieves who may steal from the buffet.

"I don't allow anyone to steal from people I care about," Tony said Friday, wearing his Tootsie's T-shirt and with his ever-present journal opened before him.

"He is part of the terminal family," Tootsie said.

On her family tree, she moved on to Molly Malloy's, the terminal bar and grill owned by her brothers Vinnie and Jimmy, who also own Iovine Brothers Produce.

Kindhearted Vinnie, the baby, she wrote. Easygoing Jimmy "Dogs" - he was a hot dog vendor before joining Vinnie at the produce stand 25 years ago.

For the Iovines, everything is a family business. Always has been. As a kid growing up in North Philly, Michael, the third oldest of the 10 brothers and sisters, got a job at a watch factory on Spring Garden Street. In no time, he had everyone banding watches in the dining room, then brought them to work at the factory.

"Efficiency expert - he taught us our drive," Tootsie wrote next to Michael's name.

They buried Dad from cancer two days before Christmas in 1978. He was 58. Mom - Molly, the namesake of the bar - buried on the day before Thanksgiving 10 years later. She was 64.

Their parents' deaths at such young ages "helped us realize much sooner in life that family is all we have," Vinnie said.

Tootsie was the first at the market, running the salad bar. She got Vinnie a gig on the old Terminal loading docks. He hated it. She threatened to break his legs if he quit. He didn't. Then he persuaded his brother to come over. She got Tony, then Bobby. Then sisters Anna, Suzie, and Theresa. All but two of the Iovine siblings - Michael has since moved to Florida. Joe is a federal government lawyer who gets his brothers to serve him lunch at Molly Malloy's once a week.

"We got really lucky and found a home here at the market as Iovines," Jimmy said.

Now the next generations of Iovines decide whether to make their future in the market. Maria, 27, likes to joke with her mother that her inheritance will be all the characters at the counter.