"SodaJerk" news and stories

Death, like taxes, is inevitable, but it's always sad when you hear of the passing of an old friend. The food world has been dealt a handful of blows in recent weeks with the deaths of some folks who helped to make the nation a tastier place.

At AOL Food we wrote today of the death of Milton Parker, the owner of New York's landmark Carnegie Deli. He was not alone.

New Yorkers who make their way to the Union Square Greenmarket often saw Joe Ades peeling carrots on the northwest corner of the square with the $5 peeler he peddled for years. Ades died on Sunday at age 75. "He was very excited about carrots," a woman who works on the square told the New York Times.

In California, Ozzie Osborne was passionate about soda, shakes and sandwiches. The longtime soda jerk who ran Ozzie's Soda Fountain in Berkeley passed away on Jan. 29. "He loved to tease people in a way that made them feel good about themselves," a patron told the San Francisco Chronicle.

In Robert Kolb's case, it was the product that made you feel good. The last of four generations of a Bay City, Mich., brewing family died on Jan. 28. Though Kolb Bros. Brewing Co. closed in 1936, Kolb started a beer distributor company that was renowned for delivering Buckeye beer until Miller bought the brand in 1972, putting the Kolb company out of business.

"From then on," Kolb's son-in-law told the Bay City Times, "he was a Budweiser man."