Salha "Mama" Bobo

Who was Salha "Mama" Bobo?

Salha "Mama" Bobo was a Syrian-American Jewish businesswoman, philanthropist, and matriarch of the Bobo family, based in Tampa, Florida.

Born in the 1900s in Aleppo, Syria, she emigrated to the United States as a teenager and lived in New York City, Jacksonville, Florida, and Macon, Georgia, until eventually settling in Tampa in 1947, with her husband, the Egyptian-born Ralph Bobo.

She was the head of the Blue Ribbon, an Ybor City, Tampa, Florida landmark grocery store.

She has been the feature of numerous print and TV news stories, as well as a documentary about her life, a cookbook, Mezza & More, Syrian Flair With a Southern Fare, and an oral history memoir Mashala, The Life and Times of Salha Bobo.

She had an especially sharp mind, even in her last years. She was survived by her 7 children, 26 grandchildren, and over 50 great grandchildren. She knew every one of her children's, grandchildren's, great-grandchilden's, and 2 great-great-grandchildren's birthdays by memory. She dispensed business and general life counsel even in her nineties. She valued hard work, strong religious values, and above all, her family.

Her descendants live in the Tampa-Clearwater area, as well as Miami, Atlanta, New York City, and Mexico City.