Community loses iconic baker - The Jewish Standard

If Zadies cakes are beloved among the Jews (and non-Jews) in (and outside) the Fair Lawn community, the founder of the bakery, Larry Steinberg, who died on April 29 at 74, was no less beloved.

The accolades below the Facebook death announcement speak for themselves, with more than 100 heartbroken customers, friends, and ex-staff members describing Mr. Steinberg as “one of the kindest men I ever met,” “generous,” “dedicated to shul and to Judaism,” and “a soft-spoken kind-hearted gentleman.”

Rabbi Ely Shestack, spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavat Achim in Fair Lawn, Larry’s synagogue, recalls that “Larry took over the bakery when he was 25 years old after his father, Abe, died in a tragic car accident. He was an excellent and innovative baker, a skilled manager, and made his bakery into a hub of chesed for people struggling financially.

“Not only did his innovative and delicious challah and baked goods enhance Shabbat and yom tov tables, but the spirit infused by Larry in his Zadies baked goods — named for his father —was that of love for the community he lived in and loved to feed. Now, his son Adam runs the bakery with the rest of the family. Larry, after years of fighting cancer, lived just long enough to see the first Shabbat of challahs from the recently reopened bakery.

“May his memory be a blessing.”

The many tributes from people who remember him from Steinberg’s Bakery in Oceanside in the 1990s to those of us who eagerly awaited the opening of his store’s new location in the Fair Lawn Promenade last week, and from others who knew him at different points of his life, uniformly describe him as a mensch, a man who leaves an impressive legacy behind him.

“He was very special to us,” Fair Lawn dentist Bram Alster said. “He was a longtime friend, who always liked to give advice. When I had my first grandchild, he said I should have him call me Zadie.”

But he was also extremely philanthropic “and motivated others to be as well.” And, Mr. Alster continued, he always sent the dentist home with goodies for the entire neighborhood. “I also know that he was committed to Yiddishkeit and donated at least one Torah.”

And because Zadies products have made their way across such a wide geographic area, “they have positively impacted simchas and Shabbat tables across the country,” he said.

Certainly, I never had the temerity to visit my Maryland children without a meltaway, and friends tell similar stories. Sharon Mosenkis of Fair Lawn noted that “Zadies has been very important to us. I know a guy who had actually been counting the weeks and months until the reopening and getting grumpier and more indignant the longer it was closed.

“I can also attest that all the Weight Watchers coaches in the area knew of Zadies, and very few of them were Jewish or local. I keep my daughter-in-law happy with a judicious supply of meltaways.”

Zadies’ own self-description, posted on its website, points the way forward for the new facility:

“Although our name — and location — have changed over the years, our retail and wholesale customers have continued to enjoy the special, unique taste that is Zadies. We still use the same high-quality ingredients and recipes that were perfected four generations ago.”

Those generations saw bake shops on the West Coast and Long Island. The Fair Lawn store opened in 2005 and with it came not only Larry’s son Josh, a trained chef, but also Larry’s son Adam and his nephew Eric. Larry’s son Eitan worked there as well.

Moving the bakery — now at the Promenade, along Route 208 North — was necessary because of the damage done in the latest in a chain of misfortunes. The Steinbergs’ first local store, on Fair Lawn Avenue, was damaged in 2019 when an elderly driver crashed through its glass windows, causing the bakery to close for two months.

Five years later, the store was destroyed by a fire that completely ravaged the strip mall it was housed in.

Mr. Steinberg’s survivors include his wife, Ann, and their son Ethan; his children Stacey, Adam, and Josh, whose mother is his first wife, Terri; his sisters, Barbara, Stephanie, and Eileen; his brother, Michael, and seven grandchildren.

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