The Brew has learned that John Paterakis Sr., Baltimore’s billionaire bakery mogul, real estate developer and political powerbroker, died today at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 87.

Over a long career, the “bread man” created one of the biggest bakery businesses in the U.S., then branched out into real estate as the developer of Harbor East, all the while serving as a dominant fundraiser in city and state elections.

His influence spread far and wide from his humble beginnings as the son of a Greek immigrant who forsook college to help his dad run a small East Baltimore bakery.

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