Obituary

Smoked fish king dies of injuries

SOUTH PASADENA -- Ted Peters, whose landmark open-air restaurant fed smoked-fish aficionados for generations, has died at age 91.

Mr. Peters, who opened the restaurant in 1951, died late Monday (Feb. 17, 2003) at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he had been since being hit by a car Feb. 4.

"People loved him. He was bigger than life," said his nephew and business partner, Michael Lathrop. "He was extremely generous and always had time to help anyone."

Late into his 80s, Mr. Peters regularly appeared at his restaurant, Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish, at 1350 Pasadena Ave. S, although family members ran the place.

In an interview in December 1999, Mr. Peters confided: "First of the month, I stop by, put out my hand, and say, 'How about a little lettuce?' "

He went on to recall how he got his start:

"I'd moved to Florida from New York after the war," he said. "I'd been a plumber but I didn't want to be a plumber anymore. So I'm driving down the road in Madeira Beach, and I see this broken-down little fish smoker on the side of the road."

Known as "Bear" to close friends because he often foraged through trash bins, Mr. Peters made the smoker his own and soon was piling in the mullet, a saltwater fish with oily flesh that is especially palatable when smoked.

"Other people have smoked fish before," he said, "but most people smoked it in their back yard or in the woods. Not me. See, my claim to fame is I put the smoker right on the road where people could see it."

Never reluctant to promote his product, he would rush to the smoker as traffic approached and lift the lid to release the pungent aroma. Some motorists veered off the road for a taste. Others called the fire department.

After nearly four decades, the restaurant, lost in the roar of traffic on a six-lane highway, remained virtually the same as when Pasadena Avenue was a two-lane road lined with honky-tonks.

Only two menu items changed from the early days. A chicken sandwich appeared in 1992; smoked salmon was added in fear that mullet and mackerel from coastal Florida waters would get far more expensive and harder to find.

Mr. Peters claimed that his restaurant was the first on the Suncoast to smoke mullet and mackerel as Indians did centuries before.

He also served top-notch cheeseburgers that a critic once described as having, "the slight taste of Dad's grill without the telltale over-charring."

Before launching the smoked-fish operation, Mr. Peters ran a restaurant at Blind Pass in St. Pete Beach. He also had a fishing cooperative at John's Pass in Madeira Beach.

At his side shortly after the start of Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish Inc., was his stepbrother, Elry Lathrop Jr., with whom Mr. Peters made a deal:

They worked the restaurant like a tag team, alternating each month. In that way, each could fish, hunt and travel after working 80- to 120-hour weeks. The deal continued with Lathrop's son, Michael, who owns half of the restaurant and shares management duties with Mr. Peters' grandson, Ted Cook. Mr. Peters owned the other half.

On the morning of Feb. 4, Mr. Peters was struck by a car as he walked across Gulfport Boulevard. He had been at Bayfront Medical Center ever since.

A memorial for Mr. Peters will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Pasadena Community Church.

-- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

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