Buddy Valastro Says 'Life Just Isn't the Same' Without His Late Dad in Touching Birthday Tribute

Buddy Valastro/Instagram

It has been nearly 30 years since Buddy Valastro's father died but the celebrity chef still thinks about him daily.

"Life just isn't the same without you…" the Cake Boss star, 45, wrote in the caption of an Instagram carousel posted Sunday, which would have been his dad's birthday. "You're in my thoughts everyday and that's how it will always be."

"You're up in heaven now but you'll always be with me. Happy birthday Dad, missing you today and always, I love you," he finished before adding a note in Italian to send his love to his late mother Mary. "Tanti baci a Momma."

Buddy Sr. died of lung cancer at age 54 in 1994.

Before his death, he recruited his son to join the family business, Carlo's Bakery, in 1988. Buddy Sr. made the then 11-year-old start with cleaning the kitchen of the Hoboken, N.J. bakery before moving on to decorate wedding cakes by age 15.

"My dad wanted me to know what it was like to be everybody in the bakery," Valastro told PEOPLE in 2010. "The thing is, everything they made me do, I was good at."

RELATED: Buddy Valastro Says His Kids Want to Take Over the Family Business: 'And I Want Them to'

Buddy Valastro/Instagram

Just a few years after working side-by-side, Buddy Sr. died, which forced Valastro to drop out of high school and take over the business at 17. Using the lessons his father taught him, he expanded Carlo's Bakery from a single shop in New Jersey into locations across the country. The bakery became the setting of the TLC series Cake Boss and subsequent culinary shows and competitions.

Valastro now runs the confectionary empire with help from his four sisters, three brothers-in-law, wife Lisa and their four children (Sofia, 19, Buddy Jr., 18, Marco, 15 and Carlo, 11) and other family members. His mother Mary worked at the original bakery until she died from ALS in 2017 at age 69.

RELATED: Buddy Valastro and Wife Lisa Celebrate 21 Years of Marriage — See Them on Their Wedding Day!

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Nearly a month after her death caused by complications from pneumonia, Valastro returned to work per his mother's wishes. "She wants me to be the patriarch of the family and keep doing what I'm doing, 100 percent. There's not even a doubt in my mind," he told PEOPLE in 2017.

At the time, Buddy said he decided to speak out about his mother's life and legacy because of her fans' thoughtful reactions to her passing. A few days after Mary died, there were dozens of flowers and mass cards left in front of the bakery. "Everyone was so supportive," he said. "There were so many people who prayed for her, loved her and that's why I'm doing this. I want people to know what happened and I want to thank them for always being supportive of her."