Murray Handwerker, 89, the man who helped turn his father’s Coney Island, N.Y., hot-dog stand into a nationally recognized chain died Saturday at his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., said his son, Bill Handwerker.
Murray Handwerker was a child when his father, Nathan, opened his frankfurter business. He went on to work in the business and led its transformation into a hot-dog powerhouse, opening new locations, offering franchises, putting products in supermarkets and leading the company to go public. He sold the business in 1987.
Charles McPhee, 49, the self-proclaimed “Dream Doctor” who decoded dreams on his nationally syndicated radio show until Lou Gehrig’s disease forced him off the air in 2006, died May 8 at his home in Los Angeles, his family said.
Through his radio show, McPhee “made dream interpretation more present in pop culture,” said Cynthia Richmond, a behavioral therapist and dream counselor.
With a background in sociology and sleep disorders, McPhee began interpreting the dreams of callers in 2000 on a radio station in Santa Barbara. By 2003, he was hosting “The Dream Doctor Show,” a syndicated radio program that eventually aired in about 25 markets.
