They played their roles perfectly. She was in the front of the deli taking orders, he was in the back cutting the corned beef and making the reubens. Fran Landau and Dave Landau worked side-by-side at the Snack 'N Shop, which they ran with her brother and his wife.
And it was inevitable that Mrs. Landau would have a big idea and Mr. Landau would pump the brakes, but the result would be a compromise they could both live with, said Renee Feldman, who made up the other half of the ownership pie with her late husband, Saul Feldman.
"This wasn't just a sister and brother, and in-laws working together," Mrs. Feldman said, with a light laugh. "This was husbands and wives. It was also a combination of four very high-powered personalities."
Such an arrangement might not have worked for many, but it worked for the Landaus for the better part of 40 years. Jan Lewin said her parents were partners in every sense of the word; in business, life, love and even death.
Fran Feldman Landau, of Atlanta, died April 19 from complications of pneumonia. She was 78. Dave Landau, also of Atlanta, died Sunday -- nine weeks later -- from complications related to bladder cancer. The two, who were married for 57 years, are buried side-by-side at Arlington Memorial Park. Dressler's Jewish Funeral Care was in charge of arrangements for both services.
He was born in Elberton, she in Atlanta. They met on a blind date, set up by a girlfriend of then-Ms. Feldman.
"The story goes, mom's girlfriend said to her, 'Fran, you don't have to marry him, just go out with him,'" said Barri Nolin, a daughter who lives in Roswell. "So she went out with him, she adored him and she married him."
But before they met and married, Mr. Landau served in World War II and Mrs. Landau attended secretarial school in Atlanta. After his service was complete, Mr. Landau earned a business degree from the University of Georgia in 1949. The couple wed in 1954 and almost two years later they moved to Hawaii, where he opened retail stores for a shoe company.
"When they came back, he and Saul decided to expand the business Saul had with his mother," Mrs. Feldman said. "And we opened at Clairmont and North Decatur Road in 1958."
The Snack 'N Shop moved two more times before both of the Landaus retired, though she left first, Mrs. Nolin said of her mother. Mrs. Landau left the day-to-day activity of the deli in the '80s and eventually started a bridal consulting business, A Bride's Best Friend, her daughter said. Mr. Landau retired from the deli in 1994, just after his 70th birthday, Mrs. Feldman said. The deli closed two years later.
The Landaus' daughters are not surprised their parents died within a couple of months of each other. In fact, they now share a joke that their mother sent for their father because God was opening a new deli in Heaven.
"We said that's why he left," Mrs. Nolin said laughing heartily. "Mom said, 'Get up here, I'm tired of being alone.' I mean, that was the only rational reason I could come up with. They did work well together."
In addition to their daughters, the Landaus are survived by three granddaughters.
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