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Riad Shatila, Owner of Shatila Bakery & Cafe in Dearborn, Dies of Cancer
Riad Shatila, the founder and owner of one of the most noted Arab sweet shops in the U.S., died Friday after battling cancer for years. The Dearborn man was 68.
Mr. Shatila’s store on Warren Avenue in Dearborn, Shatila Bakery & Cafe, is popular with Arab Americans across the region; the store also has a mail-order business that distributes Shatila’s pastries around the world. Mr. Shatila started with handmade pastries, which he initially sold by calling random people in the phone book who had Arabic-looking names.
Shatila Bakery’s success is a symbol of the growth of Arab-American businesses in east Dearborn over the last 30 years, transforming the area into a thriving commercial district.
“Shatila’s progress is the progress of the whole community,” Nasser Beydoun, former head of the Dearborn-based American Arab Chamber of Commerce, told the Free Press in a 2004 profile of Mr. Shatila. “He started with a small little store, grew and grew, and became more mainstream and affluent.”
Over the years, Mr. Shatila employed hundreds at his stores and factory, said Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni.
He “lived the American dream and helped hundreds of others by giving them jobs so they can support their families here and abroad,” Moughni said Saturday. “Riad was known for his generosity, as he supported many orphans over the years. Although he may have left us, his sweet memories will live on.”
Born and raised in Lebanon, Mr. Shatila moved to the U.S. in 1976, escaping a country on the verge of civil war. He didn’t have any experience baking. But he saw a need in Michigan for a place to get well-made sweets from the Middle East.
So he started to bake baklava at home, using fresh ingredients. He would mail samples of his pastries to Arab Americans, who, in turn, spread the word about his sweets.
In 1979, he opened a tiny bakery on Warren Avenue. He worked long hours, often sleeping in his office as his pastries baked.
In 1984, he moved into a bigger place on Schaefer, just south of Warren. It was so popular that during Muslim and Christian holidays, customers often had to wait in line outside the store to order their treats.
He closed that store to open a bigger one in 2004 along Warren, the main commercial strip in northeast Dearborn. The store is often packed at night on the weekends, as customers come in to satisfy their sweet tooth. In addition to pastries, Mr. Shatila developed his own line of ice cream, with flavors such as rose water.
“He’s a perfectionist,” his sister, Amal Shatila-Houtait, told the Free Press in 2004. “He’ll make something, taste it and throw it away, do it again and throw it away, until it’s done right.”
After developing cancer, Mr. Shatila found it difficult at times to talk over the last decade, family members said.
Mr. Shatila is survived by his wife, Zeinat Shatila, and children Nada, Tanya and Batoul.
A funeral was held Saturday. Condolences can be offered 4-8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at 7865 Oakman Blvd., Dearborn.
A commemoration service will be held 3 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Islamic Center of America, 19500 Ford Road, Dearborn.
Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press