GABAY, ELIAS

King of Knishes

Elias Gabay, former president of a major knish bakery and designer of machinery to make knishes, died Wednesday in Miami Beach. He was 82. Gabay was president of Gabila and Sons of Brooklyn until 1966, and served as a consultant to the firm after his retirement. The Company produced more than I million knishes a day - about half sold t h r o u g h delicatessens and the rest frozen for nationwide distribution. Knishes are a mixture of potato and spices with a light brown crust and are eaten hot. Gabay a “Yugoslav” immigrant opened a restaurant in 1921, but soon went into the wholesale knish business. He invented a machine to make knishes in 1932. Gabaj is found in great numbers throughout Croatia.