Sammy Diminich

 MBHS Class of 1964

A Celebration of His Life will be held Monday, July 17th, from 1 - 3pm ET, at the Cypress Room at the Island Vista Oceanfront Resort, 6000 N. Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach.

Now Serving Up Heavenly Meals

Sammy Diminich

Class of 1964

July 16 1946 - June 17, 2023

Obituary

Samuel Udino Diminich died at Grand Strand Medical Center on June 17, 2023 following a stroke. He was born in Troy NC on July 16, 1946, the second child and first son of Sam and Sara Diminich, who preceded him in death. Sam, known as Sammy to his friends, or Sonny to his North Carolina cousins, was brother to Toni Allman, Joseph Diminich, and Richard Diminich, all of whom survive him.

Sammy’s father, an immigrant from Trieste Italy, and mother, from Mt. Gilead NC, met near Ft. Bragg during World War II and moved to Myrtle Beach to open The Roma Restaurant. The family quickly became a fixture among the residents of the Grand Strand. Sammy grew up on the beach and in The Roma and was as much a Myrtle Beach native son as anyone ever is.

Sammy attended local elementary schools, then boarded at St. Leo’s Military Academy in Belmont NC, and graduated from Myrtle Beach High School with the class of 1964. As a 1968 graduate of Belmont Abbey College, he established friendships that endured throughout his life. He attended University of South Carolina School of Law for one year, withdrawing to manage the family’s business, The Roma.

Sammy invited family and friends to work summers at The Roma, where they learned to love or hate the fast pace and intense work ethic that defines the food and hospitality culture that is the lifeblood of South Carolina tourism. In the process, throughout his life he enjoyed a deep pool of loving and loyal friends from near and far.

Sammy’s family loves to tell, retell, laugh, and cry over “summers with Sammy” stories, including the one where Mick Jagger dined at The Roma after performing a show at the Convention Center in 1978 – complimenting the chef by pronouncing “mahvelous fettoochini,” which became the name of the dish on the menu from that time forward!

During a bout with cancer, Sammy took up residency at Hope Lodge in Charleston while undergoing treatment at MUSC, where he made yet more friends and was well cared for. Generous to a fault, Sammy would return to Hope Lodge to cook for the residents as a deeply heartfelt gesture of his gratitude.

Sammy married and raised five children in a home where friends and kin would account for twice as many kids as his own on any given day - never a dull moment in the Diminich home. Sam was a man of deep and fierce familial love and affection. He would say, and everyone would agree, that his children and grandchildren were his greatest accomplishment.

In addition to his siblings, Sammy is survived by his beloved children, Sarah Elizabeth Diminich, Stephanie Lockhart (husband Ashe), Samuel Diminich Jr, Alexandria Diminich, and Megan Bunch; and grandchildren Constance and Allan Grey (Sammy), Barrington (Megan), and McRae (Alex); adored nieces Alana Stewart, Abby Watts, Erin Hamm, and Lauren Alvey; as well as an abundance of cherished McRaes, maternal kin from Montgomery County North Carolina and thereabouts, whose family reunions were a high point on Sammy’s calendar.

Donations can be made in his memory to the Hope Lodge in Charleston.  

A Celebration of His Life will be held Monday, July 17th, from 1 - 3pm ET, at the Cypress Room at the Island Vista Oceanfront Resort, 6000 N. Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach.