Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Zoby, Ronald Anthony August 30, 2017
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Virginian-Pilot  September 2, 2017
NORFOLK

Ronald A. Zoby, a prominent Norfolk restaurateur who was the principal owner of a 
half-dozen downtown eateries, has died at the age of 72.

He died in his sleep Wednesday at his family’s home in Virginia Beach, his 
daughter, Michelle Zoby Payne, said Friday.

Zoby built a portfolio of restaurants that helped revitalize Granby Street and 
downtown Norfolk, beginning roughly a dozen years ago.

They included 4-5-6 Fish, Bodega, Norfolk Seafood Co. & Big Easy Oyster Bar, 219 
American Bistro, Byrd & Baldwin Bros. Steakhouse and, most recently, Leone’s.

His first job was at Lambert’s Point Docks, after which he made his first foray 
into the restaurant business, opening Valhalla on Hampton Boulevard.

That was followed by the Oar House on Colley Avenue, and then Michelle’s, a 
Virginia Beach bar named for his daughter, and The Wave, also in Virginia Beach.

After a successful run in the restaurant business, he began to diversify.

In 1983, he started Ron Zoby Tours, a casino marketing company that would take 
local groups on junkets to places as far away as Las Vegas, Aruba and the 
Bahamas, but mostly to Atlantic City.

That company is still running, his daughter said.

With the casino-tours business firmly established, he began to refocus on the 
restaurant scene, beginning with 4-5-6 Fish, followed by Bodega and Norfolk 
Seafood Co. & Big Easy Oyster Bar.

“My dad did not finish high school and so I think it’s a really cool thing to 
look at him and see how successful he was just by hard work – and that he was 
self-made,” his daughter said.

A Norfolk native, Zoby moved his family moved to Virginia Beach in the mid-1980s. 
He is survived by his wife, Jarrett Zoby, his daughter, son-in-law, three sisters 
and two granddaughters.

A funeral Mass is planned for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic 
Church in Norfolk.

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