Stanley Zabar, co-owner of the famed New York City gourmet food shop, has died.
He was 94.
Zabar’s announced his death in a post on its Instagram on Tuesday, calling Stanley Zabar “a quiet force behind our family business.”
According to the post, Zabar worked alongside his brother, Saul Zabar, “to build upon and carry forward the vision of their parents, Louis and Lillian Zabar.”
Louis and Lillian Zabar opened the eatery on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 1934.
The cause of death was not announced, but The New York Times reported that Zabar died from cancer, citing his daughter Dr. Sondra Zabar.
According to the Instagram post, Zabar worked behind the scenes at the world-renowned shop, and his “legal and financial acumen was vital in shaping Zabar’s into a beloved New York City institution.”
According to the Times, Zabar handled the business side of the store but often appeared to greet customers. Saul Zabar, on the other hand, oversaw the store’s operations, taste-testing its famous smoked fish and coffee. A third partner, Murray Klein, did the store’s marketing, it reported.
Zabar and his wife, Judith Zabar, were also philanthropists, the store said in the post. The couple “dedicated their time and resources to the arts, education and culinary training,” it said, adding that they supported Hunter College, the New York Public Library, Symphony Space, NYU Langone Health and the Careers through Culinary Arts Program.
But above all else, “Stanley’s greatest devotion was to his family,” the Instagram post said.
Zabar was a lifelong New Yorker, and he and his wife raised their family on the Upper West Side, “deeply embedded in the neighborhood that generations of Zabars have called home.”
“He will be remembered for the business he helped build, the countless opportunities he created for others and his unwavering dedication to his family and community,” the store wrote.
The food emporium has been a staple of uptown Manhattan for nearly 100 years, maintaining its presence on 80th Street and Broadway since its opening in the 1930s. According to a blurb on the shop’s website by Saul and Stanley Zabar, quality was of the utmost importance to its founders.
The store said it introduced New Yorkers to brie in the 1960s and to sun-dried tomatoes and gnocchi in the 1970s. In the 1980s, “we got so excited about caviar — and wanted everyone to taste it — that our prices set off a so-called ‘Caviar War,’” the food emporium said, and it won, according to the website.
The business has since grown, and generations later, it remains in the family.
“With our sons, daughters and their cousins, we’re still at it — hand-slicing meltingly delicious smoked fish behind our deli counter…offering tastes of the latest artisanal cheeses…setting out fresh-baked batches of rugelach (it’s our Bubbe’s recipe)…overseeing the roasting of our special coffee blends (we sell 400,000 pounds a year!)” the store said on its website.
“Retire? Not on your life — we’re having too much fun!”
