Gainesville native and long-time employee and owner of local eatery Louis’ Lunch, George Thomas “Tommy” Pennisi, died from a stroke on Dec. 12, 2024, at Haven Hospice. 

The 89-year-old suffered a stroke on Nov. 25 and was entered into Haven Hospice on Dec. 4. Tommy’s daughter Emily Pennisi Cheves said the unexpected timing of the loss and remaining damage from the stroke was especially difficult.  

“He was in great health,” she said. “Then he was out of it because he had so much brain damage from the blockage.” 

Born on May 8, 1935, to Catherine and Louis Pennisi, Tommy graduated from Gainesville High School and went to college at Florida Christian College in Temple Terrace. He served in the U.S. Army as a cook for over a decade before working alongside his brother Freddie at their father’s restaurant, Louis’ Lunch in the 70s. 

Louis opened Louis’ Lunch in 1928 after immigrating from Italy and transforming his mother’s meatball recipe into hamburgers. The burger joint served upwards of 1,500 hamburgers a day. 

After Freddie’s death in 1993, Tommy purchased Louis’ Lunch a year later and managed it until it closed in 2010 as one of Gainesville’s oldest and most iconic eateries with 82 years of service. 

“Our family has enjoyed Louis’ Lunch since its inception,” Robbie Davis wrote on Tommy’s obituary website. “Like his father, Louis, Tommy became a Gainesville icon, and was a friend to everyone. Losing Tommy marks the end of the ‘true’ Gainesville era. A very sad day. Enjoy a well earned rest, Tommy. And thank you.” 

Emily agreed that even though Louis’ Lunch already closed, her dad’s death is a loss for the restaurant industry and the Gainesville community as a whole. 

“We closed the business in 2010, and dad was still doing a little bit of selling hamburgers in his home,” she said. “Just interacting with people, they don’t have that anymore. My father was the only one left of all the kids that was still with the business.” 

Tommy is survived by his daughter Emily, grandchildren Courtney and Justin Cheves, brother John Pennisi (Catherine) and sister Lenora Pennisi McMullen along with nieces and nephews. 

Family and friends honored Tommy’s life with funeral services on Dec. 16 at Williams-Thomas Funeral Home Downtown and Dec. 17 at the University City Church of Christ, where he served as a member.