PORT TOWNSEND — Frank d’Amore, a co-founder of the Pane d’Amore bakery — which sells bread across the North Olympic Peninsula — has died.
He was 60.
An entrepreneur and philanthropist, d’Amore died in his sleep as a result of complications of diabetes.
He was discovered Wednesday morning, his life and business partner, Linda Yakush, said.
“He had spent the previous evening in the garden and had cooked dinner,” Yakush said Thursday.
Yakush and d’Amore founded the Pane d’Amore bakery in uptown Port Townsend in 2003.
It has since expanded to locations in Sequim and on Bainbridge Island.
The bakery will not be affected by d’Amore’s death, Yakush said Thursday, as he has not been involved with the business for years.
D’Amore was married twice: to Judy d’Amore, from 1974 to 1985; and to Jenna d’Amore in the 1990s.
He and Yakush were together for 12 years but never married.
“I have been taking care of him for a long time,” Yakush said. “My life has centered around his needs, and my whole life has been the bakery and Frank.
“Now, it will just be the bakery.”
Frank d’Amore was born on April 9, 1952, in San Diego and moved to Seattle as a teenager.
He graduated from Garfield High School in 1970 and married his first wife in 1974.
The couple and their two young children moved to Port Townsend in 1979.
“We didn’t want to live in the city anymore,” Judy d’Amore said Thursday.
“We decided that Port Townsend was where we wanted to live, although Frank didn’t have a job at the time.”
Frank d’Amore worked in construction before starting Bread and Roses, a cafe.
The couple also was involved in starting the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
Judy d’Amore said that was one of the factors in their divorce.
“We had different priorities,” she said, “although after we got divorced, we worked for several years on the marine science center and worked together to get the legislation that created the permanent facility.”
City Councilwoman and former mayor Michelle Sandoval, who knew d’Amore for 20 years, said: “He was a total character.
“He was brilliant and had a lot of stories.
“If you were going to talk to him, you’d need to set aside a half-hour for a 10-minute meeting.
“He was always reinventing himself and was always changing.
“I can’t imagine Port Townsend without him,” she added.
Katherine Baril, retired director of the Washington State University Jefferson County Extension office, remembered d’Amore’s sense of humor.
“He made everybody laugh, and used humor as a very sharp knife,” Baril said.
“When there was a condo project proposed where the [Northwest Maritime Center] is now, he printed up a bunch of T-shirts that said, ‘No Can Do Condo.’
“Everyone was laughing so hard, but the project was dead within a week.”
Baril said that no nonprofit event takes place in Port Townsend without Pane d’Amore’s involvement.
Dan Maguire, executive director of the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts in Port Angeles, had known d’Amore since the 1990s.
“He always said what he felt and did what he felt was right,” Maguire said.
“He was his own person and always followed his own path. He knew what he felt and didn’t hold back.”
In addition to Yakush, d’Amore is survived by a son, Gabriel, 34, a partner in Pane d’Amore; and a daughter, Laura Simone d’Amore, 36, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif.
His first grandson, Theodore Archer Babcock, was born Tuesday.
D’Amore knew about the birth and saw a photo of the baby, Yakush said.
Services are pending, with details to be announced at a later date, she said.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
