Golden Krust Bakery Founder Lowell Hawthorne Dead at 57

Lowell Hawthorne, a Jamaican immigrant who left a career in the New York Police Department to start a bakery inspired by his father's work in Jamaica, died Saturday. He was 57. Police say the shot himself.

"We are shocked and saddened by the death of Lowell Hawthorne," Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted. "Our prayers are with his family and his loved ones."

Condolences came from as far away as Jamaica.

"My condolences to the friends, family and employees of Jamaica-born Lowell Hawthorne," said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Police recovered a gun and a note at the scene.

Hawthorne, who arrived in the United States as a 21-year-old, joined the NYPD as an accountant where he stayed until 1989 when, with money from family and friends, he opened the first Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery on East Gun Hill Road.

There are now more than 120 of the stores in nine states up and down the East Coast. Dozens of his family members work for the company.

In his 2013 autobiography, The Baker's Son, he wrote of being inspired by his father's bakery in Jamaica.

The specialty of the bakery – and of Hawthorne's Golden Krusts – was the Jamaican beef patty, with flaky dough and spiced beef, a specialty of the island.

Hawthorne's stores also brought Jerk chicken to towns aroudn the United States thanks to a distribution deal with Costco.

"We take the taste of the Caribbean to the world," is the motto of Hawthrone's chain.

In 1996, the company opened a new factory and headquarters on Park Avenue in the Claremont section of the Bronx.

Hawthorne had announced plans last year to open a major new factory and office in Rockland County but that is still in the planning stages.

In March, Hawthorne and the company were sued in federal court in Manhattan by an ex-employee who charged he and dozens of others were cheated out of wages.

The suit, which seeks to be declared class action, is still winding through the court.

Last week, on Facebook, Hawthorne wrote of how thankful he was for the opportunities he has had.

"I was always in search of the next honest means to make a dollar," he wrote. "Like many transplanted Caribbean nationals, I struggled to work and raise a family.

"I can only thank God for everything I have achieved, and if my story here can inspire others to rise up and give it a go, then I would have succeeded in doing something meaningful."

Photo courtesy Golden Krust