Burton Benjamin Kallick - better known to anyone who has seen local TV in the past three decades as Buddy of Buddy's Carpet - will be buried today. He died Wednesday after battling kidney cancer since 2000. He was 76 and had lived in Fort Thomas before moving to hospice care at St. Luke Hospital.
In television ads, Buddy insisted: "I don't care about making money, I just love to sell carpet." While his thriving business afforded Kallick a good life and educations for his two children, the sentiment was true, said his son, Mark Kallick of Newport.
"He worshiped Cincinnati," his son said. "He loved anything that was a Cincinnati thing, whether it was the Bearcats, the old Cincinnati Royals (NBA basketball team), the Reds. He loved being out publicly in Cincinnati, and he loved being recognized. He loved doing his silly, corny, fun, hokey, folksy commercials."
The pitchman never wrote a script, never practiced. He could just feel how long to talk for a 30-second commercial. The ads fed the frustrated entertainer in him, his son said.
Until the end, Kallick loved opera crèmes from Graeter's. His son would pop the candies into his mouth.
The man who would grow up to be everyone's Buddy moved to Cincinnati from Chicago when he was 2. He started selling linoleum door-to-door when he was 14 and a student at Hughes High School. His father introduced him to a salesman friend because he thought Kallick was getting too big for his britches and needed some structure.
He did advertising for other companies, including Harry's Corner carpet stores. He and partner Leif Rozin opened the first Buddy's Carpet store in Fairfield in 1983. That one store grew into a chain of 48 locations in five states. The pair sold the company in 2000 for $8.3 million.
Kallick was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer within weeks after the sale. In a 2000 interview with The Enquirer, he referred to the cancer as "crap." Doctors predicted he'd live six months. That stretched to more than six years.
He and Rozin were charged in 2005 with tax evasion, but the case never proceeded to trial. A request for dismissal is pending from his lawyer, Louis Sirkin, who told the court federal prosecutors knew Kallick had cancer for years and still delayed indicting him until then.
He is also survived by a daughter, Lauran Hoven of Franklin, Mich.; and two grandchildren. He remained close with his former wife, Phyllis Rehmar. The two divorced in 1971.
Kallick's funeral service will be 11 a.m. today at Weil Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Road, Symmes Township. Visitation will be about a half-hour before the service. He will be buried at United Jewish Cemetery in Montgomery.
In television ads, Buddy insisted: "I don't care about making money, I just love to sell carpet." While his thriving business afforded Kallick a good life and educations for his two children, the sentiment was true, said his son, Mark Kallick of Newport.
"He worshiped Cincinnati," his son said. "He loved anything that was a Cincinnati thing, whether it was the Bearcats, the old Cincinnati Royals (NBA basketball team), the Reds. He loved being out publicly in Cincinnati, and he loved being recognized. He loved doing his silly, corny, fun, hokey, folksy commercials."
The pitchman never wrote a script, never practiced. He could just feel how long to talk for a 30-second commercial. The ads fed the frustrated entertainer in him, his son said.
Until the end, Kallick loved opera crèmes from Graeter's. His son would pop the candies into his mouth.
The man who would grow up to be everyone's Buddy moved to Cincinnati from Chicago when he was 2. He started selling linoleum door-to-door when he was 14 and a student at Hughes High School. His father introduced him to a salesman friend because he thought Kallick was getting too big for his britches and needed some structure.
He did advertising for other companies, including Harry's Corner carpet stores. He and partner Leif Rozin opened the first Buddy's Carpet store in Fairfield in 1983. That one store grew into a chain of 48 locations in five states. The pair sold the company in 2000 for $8.3 million.
Kallick was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer within weeks after the sale. In a 2000 interview with The Enquirer, he referred to the cancer as "crap." Doctors predicted he'd live six months. That stretched to more than six years.
He and Rozin were charged in 2005 with tax evasion, but the case never proceeded to trial. A request for dismissal is pending from his lawyer, Louis Sirkin, who told the court federal prosecutors knew Kallick had cancer for years and still delayed indicting him until then.
He is also survived by a daughter, Lauran Hoven of Franklin, Mich.; and two grandchildren. He remained close with his former wife, Phyllis Rehmar. The two divorced in 1971.
Kallick's funeral service will be 11 a.m. today at Weil Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Road, Symmes Township. Visitation will be about a half-hour before the service. He will be buried at United Jewish Cemetery in Montgomery.
Burton Benjamin Kallick - better known to anyone who has seen local TV in the past three decades as Buddy of Buddy's Carpet - will be buried today. He died Wednesday after battling kidney cancer since 2000. He was 76 and had lived in Fort Thomas before moving to hospice care at St. Luke Hospital.
In television ads, Buddy insisted: "I don't care about making money, I just love to sell carpet." While his thriving business afforded Kallick a good life and educations for his two children, the sentiment was true, said his son, Mark Kallick of Newport.
"He worshiped Cincinnati," his son said. "He loved anything that was a Cincinnati thing, whether it was the Bearcats, the old Cincinnati Royals (NBA basketball team), the Reds. He loved being out publicly in Cincinnati, and he loved being recognized. He loved doing his silly, corny, fun, hokey, folksy commercials."
The pitchman never wrote a script, never practiced. He could just feel how long to talk for a 30-second commercial. The ads fed the frustrated entertainer in him, his son said.
Until the end, Kallick loved opera crèmes from Graeter's. His son would pop the candies into his mouth.
The man who would grow up to be everyone's Buddy moved to Cincinnati from Chicago when he was 2. He started selling linoleum door-to-door when he was 14 and a student at Hughes High School. His father introduced him to a salesman friend because he thought Kallick was getting too big for his britches and needed some structure.
He did advertising for other companies, including Harry's Corner carpet stores. He and partner Leif Rozin opened the first Buddy's Carpet store in Fairfield in 1983. That one store grew into a chain of 48 locations in five states. The pair sold the company in 2000 for $8.3 million.
Kallick was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer within weeks after the sale. In a 2000 interview with The Enquirer, he referred to the cancer as "crap." Doctors predicted he'd live six months. That stretched to more than six years.
He and Rozin were charged in 2005 with tax evasion, but the case never proceeded to trial. A request for dismissal is pending from his lawyer, Louis Sirkin, who told the court federal prosecutors knew Kallick had cancer for years and still delayed indicting him until then.
He is also survived by a daughter, Lauran Hoven of Franklin, Mich.; and two grandchildren. He remained close with his former wife, Phyllis Rehmar. The two divorced in 1971.
Kallick's funeral service will be 11 a.m. today at Weil Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Road, Symmes Township. Visitation will be about a half-hour before the service. He will be buried at United Jewish Cemetery in Montgomery.
In television ads, Buddy insisted: "I don't care about making money, I just love to sell carpet." While his thriving business afforded Kallick a good life and educations for his two children, the sentiment was true, said his son, Mark Kallick of Newport.
"He worshiped Cincinnati," his son said. "He loved anything that was a Cincinnati thing, whether it was the Bearcats, the old Cincinnati Royals (NBA basketball team), the Reds. He loved being out publicly in Cincinnati, and he loved being recognized. He loved doing his silly, corny, fun, hokey, folksy commercials."
The pitchman never wrote a script, never practiced. He could just feel how long to talk for a 30-second commercial. The ads fed the frustrated entertainer in him, his son said.
Until the end, Kallick loved opera crèmes from Graeter's. His son would pop the candies into his mouth.
The man who would grow up to be everyone's Buddy moved to Cincinnati from Chicago when he was 2. He started selling linoleum door-to-door when he was 14 and a student at Hughes High School. His father introduced him to a salesman friend because he thought Kallick was getting too big for his britches and needed some structure.
He did advertising for other companies, including Harry's Corner carpet stores. He and partner Leif Rozin opened the first Buddy's Carpet store in Fairfield in 1983. That one store grew into a chain of 48 locations in five states. The pair sold the company in 2000 for $8.3 million.
Kallick was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer within weeks after the sale. In a 2000 interview with The Enquirer, he referred to the cancer as "crap." Doctors predicted he'd live six months. That stretched to more than six years.
He and Rozin were charged in 2005 with tax evasion, but the case never proceeded to trial. A request for dismissal is pending from his lawyer, Louis Sirkin, who told the court federal prosecutors knew Kallick had cancer for years and still delayed indicting him until then.
He is also survived by a daughter, Lauran Hoven of Franklin, Mich.; and two grandchildren. He remained close with his former wife, Phyllis Rehmar. The two divorced in 1971.
Kallick's funeral service will be 11 a.m. today at Weil Funeral Home, 8350 Cornell Road, Symmes Township. Visitation will be about a half-hour before the service. He will be buried at United Jewish Cemetery in Montgomery.
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