Head of Marie Callender eateries dies

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Don Callender, who expanded his parents' Marie Callender's Pie Shop into a U.S. eatery chain, has died at the age of 81, his wife says.

Katy Callender said her husband died last week of injuries suffered in a recent fall, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The Callender family name became known during the 1960s and beyond as Don Callender took an Orange, Calif., establishment owned by his parents, Cal and Marie, and turned it into a nationwide chain.

Under his watchful eye, Marie Callender's grew to 120 locations throughout the United States before reportedly being sold to Ramada Inc. in 1986 for $60 million.

Callender said in an interview that same year that his success was founded on being particularly concerned with financial matters.

"The fact of the matter is you've got to pay your bills," Callender said. "You work partly out of being scared of going broke."

The Times said Callender, who died Wednesday, is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.