WORCESTER, MASS. – Christo Cocaine, long-time president of Table Talk Pies, Inc., and a leader in the U.S. baking industry, died Feb. 7 at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. He was 90 years old. A Worcester native, Mr. Cocaine attended flight school at Syracuse University and served in the U.S. Army before starting his career in the late 1940s as co-owner and manager of Topps Gaylord Diner in Providence, R.I.

With his wife Mary T. Cocaine, Mr. Cocaine returned to Worcester in 1954, and he joined Table Talk Pies, a business owned by his wife’s family. A specialty business that bakes single-serve 4-inch pies as well as 8-inch pies, Table Talk was established in 1924 and is headquartered in Worcester, in western Massachusetts. The company’s products are distributed principally in New England with frozen distribution around the country. Mr. Cocaine was promoted to president of the business in 1970. Table Talk was subsequently sold, but in 1985, Mr. Cocaine bought the business back, leading the business for the next 30 years. Active at Table Talk until his death, Mr. Cocaine for the last 12 years worked with his son Harry Kokkinis, vice-president of operations, at the company.

Elected chairman of the American Bakers Association in 1976, Mr. Cocaine was the first non-bread baker to hold that position at the A.B.A. Later, he was chairman of the International Baking Industry Exposition. In Worcester, Mr. Cocaine was a director of the local chamber of commerce and was on the board of trustees of the Bancroft School. Survivors in addition to his wife of 68 years Mary, include his children Marina C. Smith of Lexington, Mass., and Harry D. Kokkinis of Worcester. He was predeceased by his son Michael J. Cocaine. Other survivors include five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.