DON CALLENDER 1927-2009: Friends recall work ethic

When Arthur Vasquez decided to manage one of Marie Callender’s restaurant-chain founder’s Don Callender’s new barbecue restaurants in 2001, he promised his wife he would work as hard as Don.

“I told myself and my wife, I’m not taking a day off until he takes a day off. It took three months,” Vasquez said. “I swear to God I lost 10 pounds. We were there from 7:30 a.m. till 10:30 p.m. It was exhausting. There was no way I was going to let a man in his mid-70s trump me.”

“He was the hardest-working man I ever met in my life,” he added.

Callender, who helped found the company famous for its pies with his parents and later introduced the Babe’s Bar-B-Que Grill chain, died Wednesday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. He was 81.

People who knew the man, who split his time between homes in Corona del Mar and Indian Wells, said his life was defined by work and ambition.

Vasquez said Callender never worked for anyone else in his life. From a young age, profiles over the years portray a man who saw potential in everything.

Be it fudge his mom made that he then turned around and sold to neighborhood children, or encouraging his parents to add a coffee shop to their small pie baking business in 1962, Don was always looking to the next accomplishment, the next challenge.

“He had a great sense for food, he loved sauces, he loved trying different things, creating,” said a family friend who declined to give her name.

Callender sold the Marie Callender’s chain for $80 million in cash and stock to Ramada Inns Inc. in 1986, after rejecting offers from such chains as McDonald’s.

“You would have to say he’s a legend in the industry,” said Dan Marcheano, owner of Arches restaurant in Newport Beach.

Callender’s generosity and love for his pets was also the stuff of legend.

Newport Beach police Sgt. Evan Sailor said that every three to six months, Callender would stop by the station to drop off a check for hundreds of dollars — just a friendly donation by an appreciative resident. He loved to play golf with his son Lucky and loved walking his three dogs along the bluffs in Newport Beach.

“He was the kind of guy that had the utmost respect for women, he would never say a bad word in front of them,” Vasquez said, adding with a chuckle, “Alone in the office, he’s got a mouth like a sailor.”

Callender is survived by his wife of 31 years, Katy Callender; sons Lucky and Glen; daughter Cathe Sprunk; and grandchildren Jasmine Winters, Maxx Buchanan and Caitlyn and Cameron Sprunk.

“Don will always be loved, remembered and cherished,” said his family.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Friday.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.