Candlelight vigils for founder of 'Golden Krust' bakery chain

CLAREMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- Simultaneous candlelight vigils were held in the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica Saturday to honor the founder and CEO of the Golden Krust bakery chain.

57-year-old Lowell Hawthorne, a native of Jamaica, shot himself in the head Dec. 2 inside the company's Bronx factory.

The vigils were held at the first Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery ever opened on Gunhill Road in the Bronx, and in Jamaica at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.

Hawthorne started the successful Caribbean fast food chain in 1989 by selling Jamaican beef patties, jerk chicken and breads. He built the business into a national franchise with more than 120 restaurants in nine states.

Hawthorne once appeared in an episode of CBS' "Undercover Boss." At the time of his death, his company was planning on building a new $37 million headquarters in Rockland County.