Gene Timmer, longtime owner of Dutch Girl Donuts, dies at 75

Detroit Free Press

Gene Timmer, the longtime owner of popular Dutch Girl Donuts on Woodward near Seven Mile in Detroit, has died.

More:Dutch Girl Donuts opens up on why it closed, says reopening is the ultimate goal

Timmer died Friday of complications from cancer, which he battled for 1½ years, his daughter Hanna Timmer Parrow said.

He was 75.

Timmer Parrow said her father, a longtime Commerce Township resident, passed peacefully at Ascension Providence Hospital in Novi, surrounded by his family.

In reflecting on his last days, his daughter said he was kind and generous and always put family first. He was more concerned about others than himself, she said, adding that he kept his illness mostly private.

"It shows a reflection and an amazing description of his character," she said. "He was the-shirt-off-his-back kind of guy. He put everyone first, his family, the doughnut shop."

Dutch Girl Donuts has been in the family since it was founded by Timmer's parents, John and Cecelia Timmer, in 1947. An only child, Timmer was born in Grand Rapids. He was 6 months old, Timmer Parrow said, when the family moved to Detroit to take over the doughnut shop, a former Dixie Cream Donut franchise. It was six months later the family renamed the iconic spot on Woodward as Dutch Girl Donuts.

It's a shop where the cinnamon rolls are still hand-rolled and hand-cut. The glaze, vanilla and chocolate, and everything else is still made in-house, Timmer Parrow said. While there have been some minor tweaks, everything is made from all original Dutch Girl recipes

Timmer graduated from West Bloomfield High School. He later went into the Michigan National Guard while still working at the doughnut shop.

He was an avid fan of all Detroit sports — football, hockey, basketball — whether the teams were having a good game or season, or not, his daughter said.

"He found the good in everything and everyone," Timmer Parrow said. "In that he taught us that, too. How just to be good people. "

Timmer is survived by his wife of 45 years, Lauren, who he met at the doughnut shop. Her mother was a schoolteacher in Detroit and later taught in Walled Lake. Timmer Parrow recalls the story of how her mother would stop in the shop and ask the manager if they had any day-old doughnuts or anything she could give her students because "they're hungry."

"The manager told my dad that you have to meet this teacher," Timmer Parrow said. "She's the most beautiful person inside and out. She helps her students."

They met over a hot chocolate French cruller. Timmer Parrow said it was love at first sight.

For health reasons, he retired from the doughnut shop about 10 years ago. Jon Timmer, his son, has been making the doughnuts and managing the business for years.

Several weeks ago, the family posted on Facebook the doughnut shop would temporarily close and take a pause because of staffing issues and the health challenges of Gene and Lauren Timmer. The doughnut shop remains closed.

Prior to the onset of the pandemic, Dutch Girl Donuts operated 24 hours a day, six days a week.

In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Timmer is survived by another daughter, Arrie Timmer of Omaha, Nebraska; his sons-in-law; two grandchildren, Helen and Henry Parrow, and other relatives on the west side of Michigan.

The family will have a private celebration of life at a later date.

Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Sue Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.

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