Jon Barry Freiden

Jon Barry Freiden, 82, of Rockledge, Florida, passed away May 17, 2026. He was born October 19, 1943, in Omaha, Nebraska. Jon spent most of his adult life in Tallahassee, where he was a tenured marketing professor at Florida State University for more than 25 years. He held a journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a PhD from the University of Oklahoma. Before entering academia, he worked for Coca-Cola in Atlanta and taught at Christopher Newport College in Newport News, Virginia in the early 1970s. 

A lifelong bagel connoisseur, Jon had a personal ordering system - GOES: garlic, onion, everything, sesame. His passion for bagels led him into his second career, when he purchased Bagel World after retiring from teaching. Jon enjoyed sailboats and international travel. During his trips, you could typically find him doing laps around the local marina or browsing the aisles of a grocery store, checking out the unique products and noting exactly where they were placed on the shelves. As they say, you can take the professor out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the professor. After he retired for good, Jon loved spending time on his boat, which he kept at Port Canaveral. He was a dedicated Planet Fitness regular - if he missed a few days, people noticed. 

He is survived by his wife, Susan Freiden; his daughter, Jaymi Butler, her husband Johnathan, of Tampa and his granddaughter, Natalie. 

Donations in his memory may be made to St. Francis Reflections Life Stage Care (Hospice of St. Francis) in Brevard County at https://reflectionslsc.org/donate/