Terry Flynn, former co-owner of landmark Hackensack bakery, dies at 55
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
BY JAY LEVIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Terry Flynn was born in Chicago, grew up in Oregon and spent a good part of his life in Arizona. But for six of his 55 years, he was behind the counter of a landmark Hackensack bakery famous for its heavy crumb cake and jelly doughnuts.
The former co-owner of B&W Bakery died Aug. 2 in Mesa, Ariz., following a brief illness.
A sister, Elizabeth Flynn-Connors of Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., said it was nice having Terry living in New Jersey because he brought wonderful desserts on Thanksgiving.
Son of a Chicago cop who moved his family out to Eugene, Ore., Mr. Flynn got his first bakery job when he was a teenager. He washed pots and pans.
He stayed in the business and worked his way up to director of bakery operations for a supermarket chain in the Phoenix area.
North Jersey native Ron Kraft worked with Mr. Flynn at the Safeway and Smitty's grocery chains in Arizona. Kraft returned to North Jersey in the late 1990s and he and his then-wife became partners in B&W, where Kraft had worked many years earlier.
In 2000, they took on Mr. Flynn as a partner. It was, Mr. Flynn's sister said, fulfillment of her brother's entrepreneurial dream.
Mr. Flynn was involved more with management than with actual production, but pressed himself into kitchen service during the busy holiday seasons, Kraft said.
He added that his friend and colleague was hardworking and fun-loving and upheld the traditions of B&W, a fixture on Main Street in Hackensack since 1948.
Mr. Flynn and his partners sold the bakery in 2006. Mr. Flynn, a River Edge resident during his time in New Jersey, returned to Arizona.
He is survived by his three children, all in the Phoenix area, four siblings and seven grandchildren. The memorial service will be held Aug. 28 at Mariposa Gardens Cemetery Chapel in Mesa.
E-mail: levin@northjersey.com