The co-owner of Montgomery’s oldest family-owned restaurant and one of the oldest hot dog joints in Alabama has died.

Theo Katechis — whose father, Greek immigrant Christopher Anastasios “Mr. Chris” Katechis, opened Montgomery’s iconic Chris’ Famous Hotdogs on historic Dexter Avenue in 1917, died Wednesday morning, according to Montgomery TV station WAKA /Action 8 News.

An employee at the restaurant confirmed his death with AL.com this morning.

Mr. Katechis was 78.

“He loved his customers, and he loved his church, the Greek Orthodox Church,” Costas “Gus” Katechis, one of Mr. Katechis’ sons and a co-owner of the restaurant with his father, said in a statement to WAKA. “Nothing made him smile more than to see happy customers. Everyone was his friend — old and young, Black and white, rich or poor.”

One of five siblings, Theo Katechis grew up working at his father’s hot dog joint, but as a young man, he had plans to be a farmer, according to a 2017 interview with the website Made In Alabama.

But after his mother died, and with his father in his 70s, Mr. Katechis later returned to Chris’ fulltime.

“I found out that I was starving as a farmer,” Mr. Katechis said in that 2017 interview. “So, the plan was to go work for the family business for a few years, and then I was going to get the farm going. And here I am, still.”

Located just a few blocks from the Alabama State Capitol, Chris’ Famous Hotdogs has served presidents, civil rights leaders, musicians and movie stars — including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George Bush, George W. Bush, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart — as well as every Alabama governor since 1917, according to the restaurant’s website.

Famous for its made-in-house chili sauce — a combination of chili powder, hot sauce, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce and various other secret — Chris’ Famous Hotdogs was ranked No. 1 on AL.com’s 2023 list of the Top 10 Hot Dogs in Alabama.

Funeral services for Mr. Katechis are pending.

This post will be updated as more information becomes available.