PORTAGE PARK — In the medical center, Don Breede preferred nothing a lot more than to see his youngsters and his grandkids — and try to eat a fish sandwich.
Breede, a second-era operator of Hagen’s Fish Marketplace, a longtime relatives organization in Portage Park, died April 14. Breede experienced pancreatic cancer for 19 years, but he died from issues of the illness, his daughter Tammy Jesse claimed. He was 77.
Breede was the “ultimate household guy” and a “quiet leader,” Jesse said. While Breede was encountering discomfort in the hospital, Jesse said she didn’t want to provide her father “anything that fancy.”
His favorite food was a fish sandwich from Hagen’s.
“I brought him just one for his evening meal, and he beamed and explained, ‘Ah, this is so, so fantastic! This is the most effective one particular ever,’’” Jesse stated. “I turned all-around for a next and his sandwich was already absent.”
Hagen’s Fish Industry is a fixture in the Portage Park community that celebrated its 75 anniversary around the summer season. It has 1 of the few fish smokers in the town — and that’s the place Breede could frequently be identified doing work.
Breede grew up in Portage Park on Grace Street, exactly where he met spouse Charlene Hagen. He then married into Chicago’s first relatives of fish. He served in the Vietnam War, bought a business enterprise degree at Loyola College and was “a ideal fit” to guide the family business enterprise, Jesse reported.
“He was just truly happy to be carrying on a family members business, to be aspect of a group,” Jesse explained. “He liked it. He labored really hard.”
Breede began at Hagen’s in the ’70s and served change the local community shop into a nation-huge procedure. He expanded the business enterprise by bringing in the freshest fish from “The Gulf, Boston, Alaska, West Coast, all about,” Jesse reported.
“He realized that every person eats fish, you just gotta locate the ideal fish for the correct person,” Jesse explained. “But if you questioned him, he’d say his legacy is his grandchildren.”
Breede is survived by his wife young children Jesse, Julie Johnson and Ben Breede and seven grandchildren. He was regarded for using his family on adventures, from cruises throughout Europe to countless impromptu romps to Disneyland. He termed his granddaughters “princesses,” Jesse claimed.
“He was that form of father, you wander into a space and his experience lit up,” Jesse mentioned. “To know you are the spark in your dad’s eye, it is a gift.”
Most of Hagen’s entire-time staff members commenced doing work for Breede when they were in large faculty, went to higher education and arrived again to perform for him once more, Jesse stated. Breede cared for his personnel, held it light and crammed in each and every odd position at the store, Jesse claimed.
“He produced it a fantastic location to be. And he normally quietly ended up in management roles,” Jesse said. “Suddenly at church he was the president, and also president of our university board.”
Credit history: Colin Boyle/Block Club ChicagoWhen Breede was diagnosed with pancreatic most cancers, he was instructed he had a 2 p.c chance of dwelling a different year, Jesse said. He continued to appear into Hagen’s and lived an additional 19.
“He’s in circumstance research now,” Jesse explained. “Because he was still right here.”
Breede created quips with customers and “told jokes with this huge smile,” Jesse reported. Just one time at the shop, Jesse’s grandfather, co-founder Bennett Hagen, struck Breede “accidentally in the butt with a needle.”
“My grandpa was like, ‘Do you require me to suck out the poison,’” Jesse claimed, laughing. “My father reported, ‘No, I really don’t need to have you to kiss my ass.’
“They were silly, and they loved the shop.”
Hundreds of customers commented on the Facebook submit announcing his dying, and many have stopped by Hagen’s to give condolences, Jesse claimed. The family members is inquiring for donations in Breede’s memory to go to Samaritan’s Purse and Ralph Pancreatic Cancer Basis.
Jesse said she’s overwhelmed by the assist for the neighborhood fish male.
“We didn’t anticipate all this,” Jesse mentioned. “He was just Dad.”
Credit history: Courtesy of Tammy Jesse
Credit rating: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Credit score: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
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