Photo by Howard Owens.
Local business legend Tony Kutter passed away on Wednesday at his home in Pembroke, surrounded by his family.
He was 91.
Kutter and his brother inherited their father's business, Kutter's Cheese, in the 1950s, when they were in their twenties and turned it into a business with an international reputation.
In 1995, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Kutter traveled to Russia as part of a trade exchange program to help aspiring Russian entrepreneurs learn how to start cheesemaking businesses.
Kutter himself learned the business from his father, Leo, who learned the trade in Germany after fighting for the Kaiser in World War I and, on the advice of a boss, moved to America, settling in the then-thriving city of Buffalo but dreaming of starting his own cheese-making business.
By the time the Kutter sold the family business to Yancy's Fancy in 1998, Kutter's had worldwide retail reach.
"I've always been adamant about promoting wine and cheese," Kutter told The Batavian in 2010 when Kutter's Cheese was named Agriculture Business of the Year. "We also supply a lot of wineries with cheese for wine tasting."
As part of the exchange program, Kutter made 31 to Russia and Ukraine over 13 years.
In 2015, Kutter published a book about his experiences in Russia, "Cheese in the Time of Glasnost and Perestroika."
Anthony William Kutter was born March 4, 1933, in Cowlesville, to Leo and Flora Kottman Kutter.
He graduated from Corfu High School in 1951. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Korea for two years.
For his full obituary, click here.
