THE SLAIN Brooklyn cafe owner whose charred remains were identified this week was remembered Thursday as a passionate coffee maker who poured his soul into his business.
The badly burned body of Joshua Rubin, 30, was found Nov. 1 in a wooded area just outside of Allentown, Pa.
The owner of the Whisk Bakery Cafe in Ditmas Park died of a gunshot wound and was then set on fire, authorities revealed Wednesday.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Mikhail Plotkin, 56, a salesman at an electronics store on the same block as the cafe.
“He was a little strange, but otherwise, he was a nice kid. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
Nino Randjelovic, who teaches at a school around the corner, said Rubin’s cafe brought an air of culture to the neighborhood.
The eatery, which was filled with art, books and music, opened in mid-September.
“He had plans to bring that sort of thing here — and he would have been successful,” Randjelovic said.
“I”m kind of sad.”
Rubin, whom sources said had a history of mental illness, was last seen leaving his Kensington home on Oct. 31.
His credit card was used a couple of days later at Woodbury Commons, an outlet mall in Orange County, N.Y., a source said.
His disappearance prompted friends and loved ones to paper Brooklyn with flyers — but their efforts yielded no leads.
No arrests have been made.
A makeshift memorial had been set up outside the cafe Thursday, consisting of a pale pink flower, white candles and a hand-sketched portrait.
“He was trying to figure the whole business thing out,” said the neighbor, a senior who declined to give his name. “I never saw any manifestation of mental illness. Whatever mental illness he had, it was minor, as far as I’m concerned.”
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