On the evening of Saturday December 16, Cassandra Fear, who was beloved of Cleveland’s entrepreneurial, creative and activist communities, was hit by a car and killed on Cleveland’s west side. According to published reports, she had hit a parked car and when she got out to see what had happened, another driver hit her and kept driving. She was 41, and leaves behind her husband Jeremy and her two preteen children.
Where to begin to talk about Cassy? Many of us got to know her through her chocolate business, Fear’s Confections, which she launched in 2010. She sold her delicious, distinctive brownies and other sweets at the Cleveland Flea in its earliest days when it launched in the parking lot of the former Sterle’s Restaurant, and opened a storefront shop on East 185th Street in North Collinwood in 2013. The following year she moved to Madison Avenue in Lakewood. She closed that location earlier this year after a series of challenges including the pandemic and landlord issues, yearning for the finite hours of a nine-to-five job, more time with family and reconnecting with barbershop singing, one of her passions. But keeping a one-person small business alive for 13 years has to be considered a success.
During her time as a business owner, she connected with so many people in so many ways. She organized events with other small business owners on her strip of Madison. She celebrated Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas with special in-store events, hosted mini maker’s markets behind the store and sold her chocolate at Cleveland Burlesque performances including its annual Ohio Burlesque Festival. She was always stepping up to help organizations that addressed issues such as domestic abuse and LGBTQ rights. She uplifted other people instead of looking at them as competition. “Stronger together” was a principle she lived.
Cassie was dynamic, creative, hard-working, vivacious, good-hearted, generous and kind. Her life sometimes got messy, but she fought her personal battles courageously. When she created her “Trump Dump” — a swirl of chocolate topped with a swath of yellow frosting — she got bomb threats and bad Yelp reviews from people complaining about her cupcakes being stale (she never sold cupcakes.) She removed them from her website but continued to make them for those who asked privately.
She was beautiful (although like many of us, she often doubted it) with a distinctive style all her own — a 1940s inspired-look that jibed with her barbershop singing. She was a pop culture nerd, reflected in items such as her Star Wars-shaped chocolates. As a chocolate lover, I bought countless brownies from her. They were never stale, always moist and rich. The taste of her banana-infused dark chocolate Evil Monkey brownies will always linger in my memory, along with her warmth and the impact she had on everyone whose path she crossed.
[Written by Anastasia Pantsios]
One Response to “Local Entrepreneur Cassandra Fear Dies in Street Accident”
Donna M. Shimko
Cassandra Fear was a wonderful and uniquely creative and caring person. I remember her sincere smiles, her positive and infectious wit and laughter, and her deep concern for her community. Her professional accomplishments were truly amazing: a chocolate chess set crafted for my partner’s birthday, and the amazing confectionery political statement of her ‘trump Dump’. Cassandra will live on in the memories of all who knew, admired and loved her.