OTTO HUBER, 77:

DOWNTOWN — To Otto Huber, the founder and 40-year owner of Otto’s Import Store and Delicatessen who died last week, lifting the bedroom shade was like raising the curtain on a stage show.

“People would ask, ‘Is Otto always like that,’” said his son, Thomas Huber. “His disposition never changed. He was such a comedian.”

In a town slowly ceding its grip on mom-and-pop businesses, he stood as one of the last remaining holdouts from a bygone era where family shops were the norm. That is, if “normal” included polka music played on an old accordion, a mile-wide smile, shorts and suspenders.

Friends and family recognized Otto Huber’s rare ability to blend the old world with the new. He was one of the first businessmen to offer state lottery tickets. “Otto’s Lotto,” they called it.

Despite achieving international acclaim selling European goods online, Otto Huber refused to automate orders because he feared it would dampen his relationship with customers.

Whether Christmas Eve or a Sunday, the family disregarded store hours and opened their doors to shoppers in need of specialty items.

“When you give something to somebody sometimes you get more in return,” said Thomas Huber, who returned full-time to the store in 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake and death of his mother. “Otto got more by giving.”

The son of a winemaker and county governor, Otto Zoltan Huber was born Sept. 12, 1932 in Lenti, Hungary.

Otto played the accordion at weddings before taking a job in Heviz, where he met a young woman he swore to marry.

When communists invaded his homeland, Otto supplied arms to Hungarian freedom fighters before fleeing to Austria. He was taken in by a congregation as a Hungarian refugee.

From there he negotiated a trip across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Queen Mary, landing in New Jersey and taking a job in a furniture factory. He moved to California in 1958 and was granted American citizenship in 1963.

In that time he exchanged letters with the young woman he pledged to marry.

“Irma waited nine years for me to return, as the Communists kept her there,” Otto told the Burbank Leader in 1990.

In 1965, he returned to Hungary, married Irma, and returned home six months later.

Along with their son, Thomas, and daughter, Anita, the family bought a grocery store at the corner of Clark Avenue and Brighton Street.

His wife suddenly passed away in 1993. She was just 50. Then, in 1998, he lost his daughter, Anita.

“Even with the losses he would move on and just keep his head high,” Erika Quiel, his daughter, said. “You can’t break him down.”

News of Otto’s death last week at 77 spread through town like wildfire. Within hours the family was contacted by the mayor and dozens of well-wishers. Strangers gave flowers. One woman bear-hugged Thomas Huber and the two of them sobbed for 15 minutes.

“My father touched so many people in so many ways that it’s hard to imagine Otto’s without Otto,” he said. “We hope to carry on that legacy.”

Otto Huber is survived by his second wife, Edith; his son Thomas Huber; daughter Erika Quiel; and two-week-old granddaughter, Ellouisa.

A vigil and prayer service is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday in the Old North Church at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. A mass and funeral procession is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Finbar Church, 2010 West Olive Ave.