Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73. Known for his candies--and personality
Milwaukee chocolatier Jim Fetzer, known for his hand-crafted candies and irascible personality, has died at age 73.
Fetzer died at home earlier this week, said his friends Patrick Small and Peter Fritsch. He operated Northern Chocolate Co., which Fetzer opened in 1991 at 2034 N. King Drive.
For more than 30 years, Fetzer made such treats as chocolates shaped as rabbits and other animals from his collection of antique molds.
He also would frequently snap at customers who annoyed him − a threshold easily achieved.
Fetzer was "a unique individual," Small said.
After graduating from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Fetzer started working in 1974 at Ambrosia Chocolate Co. − which operated in downtown Milwaukee before moving to the city's far northwest side.
He spent more than 18 years there, as a quality control technician and a research and development employee, before opening Northern Chocolate.
Fetzer's first recipe was for his mint meltaways, which he developed "after tasting some really awful mints he bought at a movie theater," according to a 1995 Journal Sentinel article.
"He went home that night and began cooking and by 2 a.m. had developed the recipe," wrote journalist Maureen Dietzel Mertens.
"Biting into one is a chocolate sensation not to be missed. You push through a slightly harder coating of rich dark chocolate and slide into a softer light chocolate," Mertens wrote. "The taste, a blend of all that sweet and bittersweet chocolate and rich mint, melts in your mouth."
Less sweet: Fetzer's attitude.
He had a history of "ripping into people who ask what he regards as stupid questions, for example, or booting out customers when someone waiting in a car honks for them," according to 2019 Journal Sentinel article.
It earned him the sobriquet of "Chocolate Nazi" − a reference to the infamous "Soup Nazi" character from the '90s "Seinfeld" TV series.
"He had strict rules," Fritsch said.
Northern Chocolate customers sometimes "found themselves scolded for wearing fur, flashing cellphones or otherwise aggravating its idiosyncratic owner," journalist Rick Romell wrote in the 2019 article.
"He was so opinionated," Fritsch said.
Fetzer also was a pioneer of sorts by buying his King Drive building in 1985, and then spending several years slowly remodeling it.
"He was a masterful decorator and restoration specialist," Small said.
Fetzer bought his building several years before other business operators and real estate developers began investing in King Drive.
"He has no patience for those who won't come to his store," Mertens wrote in 1995.
"I don't want them," Fetzer told Mertens. "Tell them not to come here. They don't understand this neighborhood."
Fetzer's historic building, which he bought for $15,000 in 1985, today has an assessed value of $205,800, according to city records.
Fetzer in 2019 said he planned to shut down Northern Chocolate, citing health issues and saying he no longer wanted to deal with the public.
But Fetzer kept the shop going − albeit with irregular hours.
"I think he just wanted to keep working because that made him feel alive," Fritsch said.
This story will be updated when details about services become available.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Obituary: Northern Chocolate Co. owner Jim Fetzer dies at 73
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