Years ago, Frank Sarris, owner of Sarris Candies, buried his mistakes in the back yard.

Why the secrecy?

No one knew he was an experimenting chocolatier and he chose to keep it that way until he perfected the formula.

On top of that, he was buying 100 pounds of sugar at the time and feared the state would suspect him of making illegal liquor.

At one point, his fledgling venture went up in flames. Unaware of the potential for cooking sugar to overflow, Mr. Sarris brewed a concoction that started a fire in the basement where he was making the candy.

"I didn't know sugar could overflow that easy cooking in a kettle," he recalled.

Those start-up mishaps aside, and because of a penchant for perfectionism, Sarris Candies is a mecca for chocolate lovers in Western Pennsylvania and beyond. It also has helped put his hometown of Canonsburg on the map.

	Robert J. Pavuchak, Post-Gazette Frank Sarris, owner of Sarris Candies, in the ice cream parlor in his Canonsburg store. Click photo for larger image.

The start-up candy company, which began in a home basement on a slow boil, has bubbled into a $19 million-a-year business with 240 employees turning out 16,000 pounds of sweets a day. By any measure, success is sweet, molding not only a role model businessman but also a homegrown philanthropist.

Most recently, the 75-year-old candy maker donated $1.5 million for the new two-story, 30,000-square-foot Canonsburg library soon to be built, which, because of his largesse, will bear his name. In March, he donated $5 million to the Starzl Transplantation Institute to establish the Frank and Athena Sarris Clinical Endowment to support research. In 2002, he received a kidney transplanted from his godson, George Pihakis.

Who would have guessed a man who left Cecil High School in his junior year to help the family would have worked his way to this?

It started in 1959, when he was paid $100 one winter night to deliver a truckload of Easter bunnies. At the time, he was making about $40 a week as a forklift operator, and his wife, Athena, suggested they bank the money. But he had bigger plans, deciding instead to buy a stove, a copper kettle and a book about making candy.

In about 1961, the Sarrises -- his wife worked in the business in addition to holding down a full-time job -- moved candy making out of their basement and into a building next to their house. Five years later, their house was torn down to make way for a bigger building and they moved into living quarters above the shop.

At one point, he used his two-door 1949 Dodge as collateral for a bank loan to buy machinery.

He and his wife put in long hours, working until 1 or 2 a.m., said Mr. Sarris, who had never made candy or cooked before starting the business. It was strictly trial and error.

"I remember my friends coming in to help me," he said.

Among the friends who could foresee success was Canonsburg Mayor Anthony Colaizzo. The two clicked as high school chums.

"I knew he was a hard worker. I knew when he worked for John Nikas, [the baker] and Spar Market. I noticed how industrious he was. He was always determined to get ahead. He wanted to do things in a perfect way," Mr. Colaizzo said.

"His business in Canonsburg has really catapulted the visibility of our community. We have the Perry Como statue and, when visitors come to [see] the statute, they ask where Sarris [Candies] is. Sarris is well known. He has put Canonsburg on the map. Canonsburg, in my opinion, is very fortunate to have a man of Frank's caliber," Mr. Colaizzo said.

Neither was friend Manuel Pihakis, George Pihakis' father, surprised at Mr. Sarris' success: "He's the kind of guy, whatever he takes on, it's going to be 100 percent."

Mr. Sarris has been recognized several times for his business smarts. In 2001, he was named the Small Business Association's Pennsylvania Small Business Person of the year and a finalist for the National Small Business person of the year. The next year, Washington and Jefferson College cited him as entrepreneur of the year, and Pittsburgh Business Times added Sarris Candies to its list of fastest-growing companies. In 2003, the Washington County Community Foundation named him philanthropist of the year.

He also received an honorary degree from W&J.

"You have to be dedicated. You can't look at the clock to see what time you're going to quit. You can't watch TV. You have to have patience," Mr. Sarris said, explaining his recipe for success.

That was the advice he received from a fellow candy maker in 1960, while attending the Retail Confectioners International convention. That fellow candy maker was none other than Mrs. Russell Stover.

In addition to the library and the Starzl Institute, those on the receiving end of his generosity include the Washington Area Humane Society; the All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in North Strabane, where he is a member; Animal Friends; Canonsburg Hospital; Washington Hospital; the Washington County Food Bank; and the American Hellenistic Education Society.

It was his friend, Manuel Pihakis, a Canonsburg Library board member, who asked Mr. Sarris to donate to the library. Mr. Sarris was swayed in part because Canon-McMillan School District students will benefit from the library, Mr. Pihakis said.

At this stage in his life, one thing is certain: there's no more need to bury his mistakes. The Sarris name will be clearly displayed on the library for all the community to see.