Owner of former Greensburg's Cook's Market loved customers, making friends

Gary A. Baum Sr. of Hempfield loved serving good food — especially Italian roast beef and chicken salad — as much as getting to know the customers in the 27 years he operated Cook’s Market in Greensburg.

“He really liked to create this atmosphere, like the song from the television show, ‘Cheers,’ where everybody knows your name. Even if we didn’t know it (name), he’d call you friend,” said his son, Gary Baum Jr.

Gary Baum Jr., his brothers Daniel and Ben Baum, all of Hempfield, along with their mother, Elizabeth “Liz” Ruffner Baum, worked in the market at various times.

”We were able to keep it (to) just family,” Gary Baum Jr. said of the people who worked there.

That remained for the 27 years Baum operated it, until the closing in 2013. Baum, 70, who had faced health challenges in recent years, died Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, at his home.

He was born March 6, 1952, in Greensburg, the son of the late Donald Baum Sr. and Evelyn Riddle Baum.

His wife recalled how the two first met when they were in ninth grade homeroom at Greensburg Salem. He was smitten with young Liz, but she was not impressed with him.

Fast forward two years, and Liz Ruffner had a change of heart when she went to Main Street Bowl in Greensburg with her friend. They did not know how to keep score, but Baum was working at the bowling alley that day and offered to help. Being more interested in her than keeping score, she gave him her phone number when he asked. Three days later, he called for a date. The romance blossomed, and the couple were married in May 1971.

Liz Baum recalled how her husband was working at Jeannette Importing Co., when he decided to go into partnership with Bill Cook at Cook’s Market on South Pennsylvania Avenue. Cook left the business a few years later, but her husband decided he would keep the name of the market.

Gary Baum Jr. said that they often would help those in need, giving someone less fortunate a sandwich free of charge. And if they needed spiritual support, they would pray for that person.

One of the staples not on the menu was the music that customers would hear inside the shop. He loved listening to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. At times, they had to turn down the volume to hear the customers, Gary Baum Jr. said.

Although he had health challenges, Liz Baum said that she and her husband took their Italian roast beef sandwiches to a Bible study meeting at their church, Courts of Praise Ministries in Southwest Greensburg, this spring.

In addition to his wife and three sons, Baum also is survived by three grandsons.

Family and friends will be received from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in Kepple-Graft Funeral Home, 524 North Main St., Greensburg. A funeral service will be held on Thursday at 1 p.m. in the funeral home. Interment will follow in Westmoreland County Memorial Park, Hempfield. Memorials may be made to Excela Health Home Care and Hospice, 501 West Otterman St., Greensburg, PA 15601.