HARTFORD, Conn. — Murray Lender, who helped turn his father’s small Connecticut bakery into a national company that introduced bagels to many Americans for the first time, has died in Florida. He was 81.
Lender’s wife, Gillie Lender, tells The Associated Press that her husband died Wednesday at a hospital in Miami from complications from a fall he suffered 10 weeks ago. The couple lived in both Aventura, Fla., and Woodbridge, Conn.
Lender’s father, Harry Lender, founded Lender’s Bagels in New Haven in 1927. After Harry Lender died in 1960, his sons Murray and Sam ran the company and oversaw its expansion. Lender’s Bagels was sold to Kraft Foods in 1984. It’s now owned by Pinnacle Foods Group.
Murray Lender’s funeral is set for Sunday in Woodbridge.