Born and raised in Heidenheim, Germany, Walter Veile learned the baking profession as an apprentice in his uncle’s nearby bakery and later was a baker and pastry chef in upscale hotel restaurants in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
The pastry shop across from the Lake Forest train station that he ran for many years reflected that Old World sensibility and sophistication.
Countless commuters would duck in for a doughnut at Market Square Pastries before boarding their trains.
Mr. Veile also had standing contracts with many local restaurants and dining facilities, including Halas Hall, the team headquarters for the Bears. He provided pastries for the team’s meetings on Saturday mornings.
“My dad seemed to know everybody in town and everybody knew him — neighbors, shop owners, teachers, even the police,” said his son, Marcus, who helped his father out in the shop. “As a kid, I could never get away with anything.”
Mr. Veile, 81, who closed his shop in 1994, died of congestive heart failure Tuesday, Feb. 24, at St. John’s Hospice in Springfield, Ill. A former longtime resident of Lake Bluff, he had moved to Springfield in June to be closer to family.
For decades, Mr. Veile was a member of the Lake County Chapter of the German American National Congress, also known as DANK, a nonprofit organization formed to unite Americans of German descent and preserve their heritage and traditions. He served on the board and as the group’s treasurer for many years.
“He was a perfectionist in every way,” said Cobi Stein, a former president and board member of the Lake County Chapter of DANK. “I called him our bean counter because he was so meticulous, so detail-minded, in tracking how our funds were being collected and spent.”
Stein was also a longtime customer of Mr. Veile’s Lake Forest pastry shop.
“Walter wasn’t your typical baker,” Stein said. “He had extensive training as a pastry chef in Europe that was so apparent in everything he created, whether it was his everyday pastries or his elaborate wedding cakes. To this day, people tell me how much they miss his sweet rolls.”
Mr. Veile came to the United States in 1957 and settled in Chicago, working for several bakeries on the North Side, including Heinemann’s Bakeries. He was drafted into the Army, serving with the Signal Corps in France, from 1958 to 1960.
After his discharge, Mr. Veile opened Walter’s Bakery in North Chicago, which he operated for several years before opening Market Square Pastries in the late 1960s with a partner. He became sole owner several years later.
In 1971, he married Verena Lauener, a Swiss immigrant, and moved to Lake Bluff shortly thereafter. She died in 2013.
“Mom wasn’t a baker, but she liked manning the front counter and chatting with customers,” said his daughter, Sonja Dwyer. “She was a lot like my dad, a real sense-of-adventure kind of person.”
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During the 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Veile donated his time and pastries to a popular Lake County fundraiser known as the Famous Chef Cuisine Benefit, which featured the specialties of more than 25 area restaurants. Proceeds from the event went to area hospitals, shelters and other local charities.
According to a 1993 Tribune article, Mr. Veile’s booth had a loyal following and “nearly stole the show with his impressive array of luscious desserts.”
“I tried to bring different things each year, but people want the same things — the truffles, the petit fours, the mini eclairs,” Mr. Veile said in the article.
Other survivors include two brothers, Herbert and Gerhart; and four grandchildren.
Services were held.