Ray Mitchell; Flower Shop Owner

Ray Mitchell, who opened Ray’s Affordable Flowers in Sherman Oaks in 1982, has died in Thailand. He was 48.

A resident of Encino, Mitchell died Jan. 18 of heart failure while on vacation, said a longtime friend, Richard Taylor.

Born in Lowell, Mass., Mitchell graduated from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., in 1965 and worked as an executive in the hotel and restaurant industry in Colorado and Wyoming. In the mid-1970s, he moved to California and worked for Magic Pan Restaurants, eventually becoming western regional manager. In 1981, he became vice president and general manager of Pasadena-based Arriba Restaurants Inc., but left to start the Sherman Oaks flower shop.

He is survived by a half brother, a half sister, and an aunt, Irene Mitchell of Lowell, Mass.

Services will be private. Forest Lawn Mortuary, Hollywood Hills, is handling the arrangements.