Superdawg Co-Founder Florence Berman Dies at 92

Florence Berman, a co-founder of Chicago’s iconic Superdawg Drive-In, has died at 92. Berman co-founded the drive-in on Chicago’s Northwest Side with her husband Maurie Berman. The two are personified on the restaurant’s roof as two giant 12-foot hot dog sculptures nicknamed Flaurie and Maurie. Her death comes almost exactly three years after her husband died in May 2015.

Superdawg’s Twitter feed announced the news. She died on Tuesday in her sleep. The restaurant’s been around for 70 years as the couple opened it in 1948. Ownership has maintained the retro vibes as a time capsule where food runners bring out food to drivers parked in the restaurant’s parking lot. The hot dog is a variation of the Chicago-style dog served in a cute cardboard box embedded in an order of crinkle-cut french fries.

Superdawg/Facebook

“When you see the winking Superdawgs greeting you from our roof, remember that it was never just Maurie. It has always been Maurie and Flaurie,” a Tweet from Superdawg read.

The Sun-Times reminded fans that Berman had a life before the restaurant as she earned a degree at Northwestern University and taught at Chicago Public Schools.