By Richard Sandomir Ken Rosenthal, who opened a bakery cafe in the St. Louis area, with sourdough bread as its star, and built it into a small chain that would become Panera Bread, died on Feb.

Founder of Panera Bread Ken Rosenthal passed away on Friday at the age of 81. He is survived by his wife and their four children.

Feldman Mortuary Kenneth “Ken” Rosenthal, who founded the company that later became Panera Bread, has died. He was 81. The Panera founder died “peacefully in his home surrounded by his ...

Panera Bread founder Ken Rosenthal passed away on Friday at the age of 81. He was surrounded by family and leaves behind his wife, Linda “Laya” Rosenthal, and their four children. In 1987 ...

Ken Rosenthal, founder of the St. Louis Bread Company—later known as Panera Bread—passed away on February 14, 2025, at age 81. His family confirmed his death in an obituary, noting he was ...

Kenneth “Ken” Rosenthal, founder of the company that later became known as Panera Bread, has passed away. He was 81. According to an obituary, Rosenthal "died peacefully in his home surrounded ...

ST. LOUIS – Kenneth “Ken” Rosenthal, the founder of Panera Bread, passed away on Friday at the age of 81. Rosenthal passed peacefully at his home surrounded by his family. Rosenthal was a ...

THE ARCHIVES: KSDK interview with Ken Rosenthal six months after opening ... and renamed the company Panera. Rosenthal, who in the early days would arrive at midnight to make the sourdough ...

Before Ken Rosenthal opened the bakery-cafe that would become Panera Bread, he was a businessman who didn’t know how to cook eggs. Panera Bread founder and Colorado businessman Ken Rosenthal ...

ST. LOUIS — In mid-1980s, on a trip to visit his brother in San Francisco, Ken Rosenthal visited a bakery, teeming with sourdough. On that same trip, he encountered other establishments.