Lake Fong, Post-Gazette photos Rege Steedle, 51, owner of Regis Steedle Candies in Millvale, chokes up as he describes closing the 70-year-old store. Mr. Steedle's son is suing him for the property.

By Steve Levin
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Some time today, the last of the 50 gallons of homemade ice cream at Regis Steedle Candies will be served, and the almost 70-year-old Millvale institution will close.

But while generations of patrons may remember its signature White House flavor ice cream -- vanilla with cherries -- or its impossibly chewy chocolate nut turtles, the predominant flavor of the final day will be sour grape.

It's a story of a good relationship gone bad, of how a sweet simple treat with 14 percent butterfat became a bitter pill. Most of all, it's just plain sad.

Regis Steedle Candies is closing because Regis Steedle Jr. no longer owns the business. His son, Regis Steedle III, does. They were partners in the business until 1999, and since then most of the conversations between father and son have required attorneys.

Perched on a triangular spit of land at the convergence of Evergreen and North avenues, Regis Steedle Candies has garnered national publicity for its homemade ice cream and candy. Both were concocted, packed and wrapped in the basement, where the churns knocked and hummed into the night. The store sent its candies to customers throughout the country and even overseas.

Inside, there were seven aluminum swivel stools to spin on at the Formica counter. Others sat in small wooden chairs at the tables scattered throughout the shop.

Regis Steedle Candies has garnered national publicity for its homemade ice cream and candy. Click photo for larger image.

It was a family business. The senior Steedle, 51, said he bought it from his Uncle Albert in 1973. His brother helped keep the refrigeration system working. A sister-in-law pitched in with the paperwork. And his son came on as a partner in the early 1990s.

Every business has it stresses and every family its failings. In this case, the combination of the two ultimately led to the end of the business.

It didn't happen right away. Regis III, 33, said he enjoyed the work. Now a father of two in Belle Vernon and a full-time student in criminal justice at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Pittsburgh, he had grown up around the store and worked there since he was a child. As equal partners with his father since 1995, he had hoped to sell his share of the business eventually and make his own way.

But as their relationship crumbled over business decisions and personal matters, Regis III finally left the business in October 1999, though he remained as a partner.

"I did like the business a lot," he said. "I regret that I had to leave. But since I left, my life has really lightened up. I made a good choice."

That same year marked the first of what would become a dizzying number of delinquent tax bills for Regis Steedle Jr. relating to the store, several buildings he owned nearby and a parcel of land. According to Allegheny Court records, the delinquent tax bills eventually exceeded $46,000.

In fact, the properties were scheduled to be sold at sheriff's sale early this year until Regis III came forward with his share of the business -- $104,000 -- to satisfy the liens. Based on that and the original business arrangement he had with his father, Common Pleas Court Judge Judith L. Friedman earlier this month awarded ownership of the store building, the house next door, a nearby apartment, a garage and a parcel of property to Regis III.

His father said yesterday he didn't pay his delinquent bills on the advice of his former attorney, Vera S. McAnulty. Ms. McAnulty denied that, however, saying she thought Mr. Steedle had been making payments on the tax liens until a series of injuries hospitalized him.

"It was definitely not on advice of counsel" that he stopped payments, she said.

With every scoop of ice cream that was sold yesterday, a little piece of Mr. Steedle seemed to go with it. He has been a part of the business since he was 4 and packing candy. In 1973, when he was 18 and Uncle Albert was ailing, he assumed operation of the store.

The store has remained the same over the years, with its tin ceiling and artist board menus, its cachet coming from its product more than its ambience. Yesterday, as KC & the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way I Like It" played in the background, Mr. Steedle looked around the place and still had trouble understanding what had happened.

He said he received an eviction notice from a property management group his son hired on his birthday, May 12.

"This is like losing one of my family," he said. "People are very upset. We're working with four generations of people since this place has been open.

"The thing that was nice over the years was meeting thousands of people and becoming friends with them. There's no time that you went anywhere where you wouldn't meet them."

Mr. Steedle's plans aren't set. He's packing up everything. He hopes to open at a new location but it won't be in Millvale, he said. "This is a dying town," he said.

The last of the homemade ice cream at Regis Steedle Candies will be served today and a Millvale institution will close.