Peter Toma, longtime Roosevelt Hotel accordionist, dies at 91
10-16-2010 Times Picayune
Submitted by N.O.V.A.


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Peter Toma, an accordionist who led the band that played in the Roosevelt Hotel’s Fountain Lounge for 19
years, died Sept. 18 at his New Orleans home. He was 91.

A native of Parma, Italy, Mr. Toma came to New York City with his parents when he was 3 years old. He
received professional training on the accordion and, as a young man, played at the Latin Quarter, the
nightclub at the north end of Times Square that was run by Lou Walters, the father of Barbara Walters.

In 1944, he was invited to New Orleans for a two-week gig, but he decided to make the city his home, said
Elvera “Tots” Toma, Mr. Toma’s daughter.

Seymour Weiss, the Roosevelt’s manager, hired him as a musician in 1946.

Mr. Toma worked his way up to become leader of the small band that played in the Fountain Lounge, a nook off
the hotel’s main lobby. Chris Owens, the Bourbon Street entertainer, said her husband, Sal, taught her to
dance to Mr. Toma’s music.

He held that job until 1965 and left shortly after the Swig family bought the hotel and changed its name to
the Fairmont, a name the building retained until it was reopened last year as the Roosevelt.

Under the new management, “it just wasn’t the same,” Elvera Toma said.

Mr. Toma also performed in the Monteleone Hotel’s Carousel Lounge, and his ensemble played frequently on
radio.

Dr. Frank Minyard, the Orleans Parish coroner, credited Mr. Toma with encouraging him to resume playing the
trumpet after a 20-year hiatus.

“He told me it would not only bring me personal pleasure but, through my music, I could give back to
others,” Minyard said. “I started playing again and then performed at the Jazz Roots concerts for 30 years,
which raised a lot of money for charities.”

Mr. Toma lost his accordion and years of musical arrangements to Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters, Elvera
Toma said.

In addition to Mr. Toma’s daughter, survivors include a brother, Lawrence Toma of East Stroudsburg, Pa., and
a grandchild.

A Mass was said at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home.

Burial was in Metairie Cemetery.