After his death, the New York Times published a lengthy obituary for Charles Entenmann, who led his family’s bakery in the United States into a national brand. He was 92.
Following the 1951 death of his father, William Entenmann, a German immigrant who founded the bakery in Brooklyn in 1898, according to its website, the family’s Bay Shore bakery grew across the region and eventually nationwide.
The family that founded Entenmann’s sold the company in 1978 for $233 million, or more than a billion dollars today. However, the plant in Bay Shore was closed in 2014 by new management, according to Newsday.
According to his obituary, Robert Enenmann was a supporter and advocate for the Great South Bay YMCA, which he funded research to benefit water quality and habitats in the bay that separates his home from Fire Island.
“He never sought the accolades or the attention; and when he gave, it was with all his heart and complete faith and trust in you,” Anne Brigis, a long-time YMCA executive, said to the paper.
“He treated everyone with respect, whether you were a bakery employee or a Y maintenance worker. It made no difference if you were a senior administrator at the Y or anything else.”
In retirement, he led energy and medical progress at his research facility and health care company, as well as with his brothers Robert and William, who established the Entenmann Family Cardiac Center at Bay Shore Southside Hospital.
“He was an extremely generous man,” his son Charles Edward Entenmann said. “He was just a really intelligent guy … He had a fantastic sense of humor and was always playing jokes on people and having fun. He did it right.”
According to one of the descendants, the older Entenmann didn’t share his family’s sweet tooth and thus didn’t encourage it.
“I’m going to tell you something that’s been fairly hidden for most of my life,” his son informed Newsday. “He didn’t mind eating Entenmann’s cake… He wasn’t a dessert person.”
Charles E. Entenmann, a writer and naturalist who documented his local museum’s search for a genuine Apatosaurus skeleton, died in Florida on February 24. He had spent decades of his life in Florida but was interred on Long Island.