“It was amazing how many different languages he knew,” Cleary said. “He knew a few words, like, hello, goodbye, thank you, you’re welcome. ... But it was interesting how he could basically go anywhere and start talking in at least a few words of their tongue.”

Mondry, who leaves behind two children, Jordan, 20, and Kaya, 18, “gravitated towards little kids,” and knew how to talk to them, Cleary said. When they’d consult with coffee roasters with young families, Mondry would give the children rides on the forklift in his warehouse, Cleary said.

Longtime friend Lea Aschkenase, a local clinical psychologist who knew Mondry for 38 years, said he was great at helping her put her young daughter to bed.

“He would tell her the most imaginative, magnificent stories that he would make up,” Aschkenase said. “They were just spellbinding for her and for me, too.”

Mondry was also a great cook who would make meals for his friends, she said.

Bitner, of Rusty Dog Coffee, said one of Mondry’s favorite stories had to do with Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, who got his start as an appliance salesman for the Swedish company Hammarplast.