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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Mourning the loss of Jay Haverstick
Here’s a copy of a story scheduled to be published in Thursday’s Dayton Daily News:
At a luncheon in February 2006 celebrating Jay’s Restaurant’s 30th anniversary, founder Jay Haverstick reminisced about his days managing the old Yankee Tavern near Centerville back in the mid-1970s, when he first began scouting out the property in downtown Dayton’s shadow that he would turn into his namesake restaurant.
“I would come down here to walk around, and I saw a lot of very interesting people,” Mr. Haverstick said. “They didn’t dress like I did. They sure didn’t drink what I drank. Some of them didn’t have homes to go home to.”
His customers at the suburban Yankee Tavern “told me I was crazy” for relocating to the city’s core, Mr. Haverstick said. And there were times when he wondered whether the doubters had been right. “They told me if you build it they will come, but there were a few days when I thought to myself, when the heck are they going to get here?”
The restaurant erupted in laughter, and Mr. Haverstick grinned broadly. In fact, the customers did come, and Jay’s evolved into one of Dayton’s premier restaurants and an anchor in the Oregon Historic District.
The news that Mr. Haverstick was found dead Wednesday, May 20, in Death Valley National Park, where he was taking photographs, left the Miami Valley’s restaurant and wine community, and his many other friends and acquaintances, stunned.
“Jay was an important part of the fabric of the restaurant community in Dayton,” said David Hulme, owner of the Pine Club restaurant who has known Mr. Haverstick for four decades and attended Jay’s Restaurant’s opening night in 1976.
“He was a passionate guy — Jay was not one to hold back his opinion — and he was always an outspoken proponent for the community and for the restaurant owners,” Hulme said. “I was always impressed by his commitment to the community.”
Every holiday season for the last several years, Mr. Haverstick has opened the doors of his restaurant to the homeless or economically disadvantaged and serve a free dinner of fried chicken, ham, mashed potatos and green beans. A local church helped collect donated clothes and toys to be handed out at the dinner. Last Christmas, nearly 500 people attended, according to Jay’s Restaurant sommelier and long-time employee Joe Daniel.
Oakwood Club restaurant owner Lance Stewart said Mr. Haverstick was “someone we could all look up to as restaurateurs.”
Stewart recalled when his father died suddenly 18 years ago, he was thrust into the unfamiliar role of sole ownership of the Oakwood Club.
“Jay Haverstick was the first person to come to me and offer his help,” Stewart said. “I will always remember that.”
Josef Reif, owner of l’Auberge, said Mr. Haverstick, wife Idy and daughter Amy Haverstick came in for dinner at his Kettering restaurant last week, shortly after Mr. Haverstick’s 69th birthday on May 8. The longtime friends have cultivated a tradition of having dinner in each other’s restaurant around their birthdays, Reif said.
“He was proud of Dayton, and he loved Dayton,” Reif said. “He was always there, always helping his employees and friends. And he was always dedicated to his restaurant, seven days a week.
“We always chatted about wine and food, and he was passionate about both. It was a great friendship.”
Mr. Haverstick apparently was making new friends a week before he died. David Vasconez of Oakwood said on Wednesday that he sat in front of Mr. Haverstick on a Dayton-to-Chicago flight May 12 and listened to him talk about his excitement around his upcoming trip with an old college buddy. He said he introduced himself to Mr. Haverstick, and the two discussed the best way to cook swordfish.
After he read the stories on daytondailynews.com Wednesday about Mr. Haverstick first reported missing and later being found deceased, “I was floored. Vasconez said. “I just got chills.”
The restaurant was closed Wednesday but is expected to reopen at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Mr. Haverstick is survived by his wife Idy; brothers Ned and Kim, both of Dayton; daughter Amy Haverstick; and son Joseph and daughter-in-law Rebecca Haverstick of suburban Cleveland, and two grandchildren.
Funeral arrangement are pending.
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Jay’s restaurant owner Jay Haverstick reported dead in Death Valley, CA
I’ve posted over on Taste the following story: Jay Haverstick has been reported dead in Death Valley, CA. He was reported missing after he didn’t return from a photo shoot Tuesday, May 19.
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