Lawrence native Murray Handwerker of Nathan’s Famous

Murray Handwerker, a Lawrence native and the former president of Nathan’s Famous, the hot dog fast-food chain based in Coney Island, died on Saturday at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 89.

Five years before he was born in Brooklyn on July 25, 1921, his parents, Nathan and Ida, opened the original Nathan’s Famous at Coney Island. The hot dog stand was patronized by the famous and infamous as actor Cary Grant, entertainer Eddie Cantor and gangster Al Capone were regular customers. In 1939, Nathan’s Famous received international exposure as President Franklin D. Roosevelt served the hot dogs to the King and Queen of England.

“Murray initiated the transformation of the company from a Coney Island tradition into a powerful, national chain,” said Wayne Norbitz, the current president and COO of Nathan’s Famous, Inc., in a statement. “His legacy can be seen throughout our country, every day, as people enjoy the great hot dogs and French fries that he was so proud of.”

After graduating from New York University in 1947, Handwerker went to work for his parents and in the 1950s revitalized the restaurant, Roadside Rest of Oceanside, and transformed it into the first Nathan’s Famous location outside of Coney Island. Generations of South Shore high school students were said to have flocked to the Long Beach Road hot dog joint after football games. When Handwerker returned from World War II in 1946 he began working with his parents. Just 22 years later, he turned the family business into a national fast-food chain.

His son, William, said his father was a man with integrity and was an entrepreneurial visionary. “He helped my grandfather, Nathan, build the Nathan’s name from one restaurant into a chain,” William said. “He had a vision and worked as hard as he possibly could to maintain the integrity of the brand my grandfather started and expanded upon it.”

After selling Nathan’s Famous to private investment company, Equicor Group, in 1987, Handwerker retired to Florida. He was predeceased by his wife Dorothy. Handwerker is survived by his sons, Steven, Kenneth and William; his brother, Sol; and several grandchildren.

“He was a family man who loved his wife of 67 years and he’s with her again,” William said.