Dan Bayer 1926-2013

Dan Bayer passed away last week on May 9th at age 86 in Arcadia Methodist Hospital. A small funeral was attended by family and some friends the following day at Mount Sinai in Burbank. My Uncle Danny – Born in Edirne Turkey in 1926 where he grew up with his two brothers. Dan served in the Turkish Military, and later immigrated to Israel and served in the Israeli Defense Forces. He became a fairly successful farmer in Israel until he decided to sell off his holdings in a Moshav (Co-op) and come to America to look for a wife. He married my aunt, Rachel Azose, in 1957 and soon moved to Southern California in search of a home to raise a family. They settled in Arcadia and along came Mark and Ronda in short succession. I have very fond memories of a loving aunt and uncle who both cared deeply for family ties. Together they ran a Shell station on the corner of Huntington Drive and Baldwin Avenue for many years. Today a Chase Bank occupies the corner. They got out of the gas business and took a new path when they bought the Baskin Robbins Franchise just down the block, but still on Baldwin Avenue. Mark married and eventually joined the family business when they bought a second Baskin Robbins. Mark went on to be ordained a Rabbi – a real high mark in life for Dan, and the whole family. Mark passed away tragically a few years back and is survived by a wonderful family of four sons, two daughters and already numerous grandchildren. For Dan the grandchildren and great grandchildren were a tremendous blessing and source of pride. I know how much he appreciated his family by the regard he held for our only daughter. He always made her feel tremendously special. Everyone in Arcadia knew my uncle. I know that’s a rather bold statement, but who didn’t know the house on Lemon with an entire miniature farm in the front yard. I remember a couple of years when he planted the parking strip with strawberries, and they made tons of delicious jam. He had a couple grapevines and tried making wine. He had trees with multiple types of the same species grafted on the same trunk. He’d have five different types of apples growing on one tree, and the same with peaches, pears and more. Many knew Dan for his community involvement with the Rotary or the Police Auxiliary, or just knew him from the gym. He was a fixture in the gym every day at 6am. I’ll miss my Uncle Danny. Thanks for being a part of his life.