OBITUARIES
Sylvia Sebastiani, 87; Led Family Winery, Wrote Cookbook
By Mary Rourke, Times Staff Writer
Sylvia Sebastiani, a dairy farmer's daughter who married into the Sebastiani winemaking family in Sonoma County and eventually became chief executive of the family business, died Sunday. She was 87.
She had been in failing health for several years and suffered a stroke last week. She was being treated at Sonoma Valley Hospital, where she died.
While her husband, August, was alive, Sylvia Sebastiani remained behind the scenes in the family business. After his death in 1980, however, she inherited the winery and proved to be a power in her own right.
She became chief executive — with Sam, the oldest of her three children, as president...(but) she ultimately fired him after disagreeing with his vision for the company. She replaced him with her youngest son, Don, a former California state legislator. That same year, 1986, she stepped down from her position as chief executive but remained majority stockholder until her death.
The executive shake-up caused a rift in the family that Sylvia Sebastiani refused to discuss with the media; she would say only, "I love my children equally."
Mother and sons were eventually reconciled, but the Sebastiani brothers went on to start their own separate businesses in the area. Sam founded the Viansa winery in 1989, and Don launched a winery under his own name in 2001.
Sylvia managed to keep the family business in the hands of immediate relatives. Her daughter, Mary Ann Sebastiani Cuneo, the second of her three children, is president of the winery, and her son-in-law, Richard Cuneo, is chairman of the board.
Sylvia Scarafoni was born May 10, 1916, in Cordelia, Calif. In 1927 she moved with her parents to a dairy farm in Sonoma County, where their closest neighbors were the Sebastianis. August, son of the winery's founder, and Sylvia became high school sweethearts and wed in 1936.
After August's father died, the couple purchased the Sebastiani winery in 1944. Sylvia raised their children and entertained her husband's clients at home, often cooking meals for 20 or more guests.
"My husband came every day for lunch," she said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch in 1993. "If he was busy with somebody, he would say, 'Come up to the house.' I always made extra so I could handle the guests."
She also contributed dishes for social events at the family's parish, St. Francis Solano Catholic Church, when her children were students at its school.
Her husband encouraged her to write a cookbook using her home-style recipes for polenta, risotto, garden vegetables and the game that he brought home from frequent hunting expeditions.
When the book, "Mangiamo! Let's Eat," was published in the 1960s, the family intended it as a gift for business clients. But demand grew, and it was reprinted nine times, with Sebastiani updating her recipes in 1993. Close to half a million copies of the book are in print. Until recently, visitors to the winery often found her autographing copies in the tasting room.
As a longtime resident of Sonoma, Sebastiani was involved in the growth of the town. She and her husband often played golf together as a young couple, and she became a charter member of the Sonoma National Golf Course. They also donated the property for Sonoma Valley Hospital.
"My mother was the general's general," her daughter said in an interview with The Times. "She supported my father in everything. Wine became her passion, because it was his passion. The winery was like another of her children. She was the mother. Family came first."
Besides her children, Sebastiani is survived by her sister, Rose Scarafoni Millerick of Sonoma; 13 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
There will be a rosary vigil at 7:30 tonight and a Mass of Christian burial at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, both at St. Francis Solano Church, 469 3rd St. W., in Sonoma.
Sylvia
Sebastiani, 87; Led Family Winery, Wrote Cookbook
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