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Birth:          16 Jul 1948 
Death:          27 Sep 2025 

Notes
!PUBL
obit of Anthony J. Rollo
pub rec on ancestry 274 Upland Way, Drexel Hill, Pa.
YEADON — Soda maker Day’s Beverages Inc. has had two lives, including 
one that’s thriving right now.
The company was started by Alfred “Freddy Day” DiGirolamo in 1946 and 
operated until his death in 1967. It was brought back to life in 1997 
by his son, David DiGirolamo, who is known in the business as David Day 
(more on that later), who’d built his own successful career with beer 
distributorships and real estate.
“There used to be 53 bottlers in Philadelphia. Now it’s only Coke, 
Pepsi, Canada Dry and us,” DiGirolamo, 63, said.
Today, Day’s Soda is sold in 18 states and is most commonly available 
in dollar stores and other discounters, but also prisons and hospitals. 
It is based out of a nondescript warehouse stacked high with cases of 
soda but also containing the company’s small, memorabilia-lined offices.
Day’s is privately held by the DiGirolamo family. DiGirolamo’s sons, 
David Jr., 31, and Dennis, 28, are actively involved.
“We do millions of cases a year. We keep our costs down, which is how 
we can beat the giants,” DiGirolamo said.
Like many family-owned businesses, family matters and business were 
intertwined.
In the mid-1930s, Freddy DiGirolamo was a high-school dropout living 
with his immigrant parents at 13th and Wharton in South Philadelphia. 
It was the Great Depression and they were scratching to get by.
At 16, Freddy saw a 7Up truck pull up to a store for a delivery. He and 
a friend scouted it out, and when the driver went inside, each of the 
boys snatched two cases of 7Up and made a run for it.
The buddy got away, but the driver tackled Freddy, smashing the bottles 
in the process.
Freddy pleaded for mercy and the driver agreed to let him pay off the 
debt by working for him.
“He became the guy’s helper for two years,” DiGirolamo said of his 
father.
Yet Freddy also moonlighted as a driver for a man with apparent mob 
connections, DiGirolamo said. When the man was forced out of the 
business, he gave young Freddy $400 and the nickname Freddy Day, urging 
him to get into legitimate business.
Freddy threw himself into the soda business, and eventually was able to 
secure rights to produce Pepsi-Cola in Philadelphia. Freddy’s wife 
Elizabeth even wrote a jingle for Pepsi, pocketing $1,000.
By 1946, Pepsi was buying back its distributorships, and paid Freddy 
$66,000.
With that capital, Freddy launched the Day’s Soda brand, running the 
company from 115 Tasker St. Under Freddy, Day’s eventually produced 
150,000 cases a year — a solid business but a fraction of its output 
today.
Sadly, he died at age 47, in 1967.
“My father died a brokenhearted man,” burdened by high sugar prices 
brought on by the United States’ increasingly chilly relations with 
Cuba, DiGirolamo said,
When Freddy died, the business died with him.
“My mother didn’t have the money to send me to college,” DiGirolamo 
said.
He took the best delivery truck and became what was called a 
“bobtailer,” or independent soda salesman, supplying corner stores with 
brands like Hires Root Beer and Frank’s. But that work fizzled in the 
’60s, when some of the urban markets he served were overcome by rioting 
and strife.
Instead, he poured his energy and money into real estate and beer 
distributorships, eventually owning a stake in 13 stores, including 
Speedy Beverage in Roxborough, Brewers Outlet in West Philadelphia, 
Newtown Beer & Soda in Newtown Square, Lima Beverage and Manoa Beverage.
When he saw big brewing companies grabbing a greater share of the 
profits, he started to look for other opportunities.
On Christmas Eve in 1996, DiGirolamo said he was in a discount store 
when he overheard a woman asking for a three-liter bottle of soda, 
which the store did not have. It gave him an idea.
“I thought I’d bring back my father’s label,” he said.
He called an acquaintance who owned 20 dollar stores.
“If I could produce an affordable soda, would you buy it?” he asked him.
The Day’s Soda trademark had lapsed, but he re-established it. He used 
the family recipes. To cut down on bottling and distribution costs, he 
contracted out much of the production to bottling companies in 
Worcester, Mass., and Scotia, N.Y. Flavorings are produced by Whittle & 
Mutch, a Mount Laurel, N.J., extract maker.
DiGirolamo said it can sell a case of soda for $3 less than the bigger 
brands.
He seems to live and breathe the brand, even wearing a Day’s Soda shirt 
that identifies him as David Day.
The formula seems to work, says an executive at a private-equity firm.
“When developing a beverage choice one first defines the target segment 
age, income, desired consumer benefit, distribution channel. No one 
beverage meets the entire market, and Day’s has capitalized by 
establishing distribution and brand awareness to the value-segment 
consumer who enjoys flavored soft drinks such as pineapple, orange, 
strawberry, mango and seeks quality and value,” said Jerry Swamer, 
director of development at Cate Street Capital Inc. in Portsmouth, N.H.
Day’s has developed a strong market share in the independent 
corner-store segment in the Northeast, Swamer added. At the same time, 
it keeps a tight leash on distribution costs.
“We run a nice, tight ship,” DiGirolamo said. “We could sell out 
tomorrow.”
wedding invite (was in Aunt Clem's files, now in mine)
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/inquirer/name/david-p-digirolamo-obituary?
id=59622066
DiGirolamo David P. Of Newtown Square, died September 27, 2025, at the age of 77. 
Preceded in death by his beloved wife Marian M. (nee Rollo) DiGirolamo, parents 
Alfred and Elizabeth (nee Secamiglio) DiGirolamo, brother Frederick DiGirolamo, and 
sister Cynthia DiGirolamo. Father of David (Erin) DiGirolamo, Dennis (Sara) DiGirolamo, 
and Lauren (Thomas) Shirley. Also survived by grandchildren Brianna, Gabrielle, Miles, 
Jacquelyn, David, and Thomas. After graduating from Yeadon High School, David 
served in the Air National Guard for several years. He would then go into business first 
as a soft drink wholesaler then a beer wholesaler owning various retail locations in 
Philadelphia and Delaware County. Known by his friends and peers as "David Day," in 
1997 David re-founded Day's Beverages in honor of his father who began the 
company 50 years earlier. David grew Day's Beverage from a South Philly brand into a 
regional powerhouse with national reach. A legend in the beverage world, David 
described he was most blessed to have six grandchildren and was most proud to be 
known as, "Pop Pop." Relatives and friends are invited to his Viewing Friday, 11 A.M. 
at St. Dorothy Church, 4910 Township Line Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 where his 
Funeral Mass will follow at 12 P.M. Interment SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery.

Parents
DIGIROLAMO Alfred ()
SECAMIGLIO Elizabeth ()

Siblings
DIGIROLAMO David Pius (16 Jul 1948 - 27 Sep 2025)

Marriage To ROLLO Marian Mary (2 Mar 1954 - 4 Jun 2018)
    m. 5 Nov 1977 St. Louis Church, Yeadon, Pa.

Notes

Parents
ROLLO Anthony J. (14 Apr 1924 - 3 Jul 2001)
CLEMENTONE Lucia P. (Lucy) (13 Dec 1926 - 20 Oct 2015)

Children by ROLLO Marian Mary 2 Mar 1954 - 4 Jun 2018
DIGIROLAMO David A. ()
DIGIROLAMO Dennis S. ()
DIGIROLAMO Lauren ()

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