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Bob Evans, 89, died around 12:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Clinic as a result of complications from a stroke he suffered in February, according to Columbus-based Bob Evans Farms Inc. He was at the hospital recovering from pneumonia.

The roots of Bob Evans Farms stretch to 1946, when Evans opened a truck-stop restaurant in Gallipolis - a 12-stool operation that stayed open around the clock. Faithful to the adage that “when you want something done right, do it yourself,” he took to making sausage from the hogs on his Gallia County farm to serve at the restaurant.

The products caught on and Evans decided to make the sausage business his full-time pursuit. By 1953, the Evans family and some friends partnered to establish Bob Evans Farms.

The business grew over the decades, finding success as a restaurant chain and as a food products supplier.

Evans retired as Bob Evans Farms president in 1986.

Evans, who was born in 1918 to Stanley Evans and Elizabeth Lewis in Sugar Ridge, is survived by his wife, Jewell, and six children.

The company said funeral arrangements are undetermined.

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