The New Jersey man whose Sabrett hot dogs are part of the New York City experience has died.  Gregory Papalexis was 86. Papalexis was president, CEO and chairman of Englewood-based Marathon Enterprises, a supplier of hot dogs, buns, and other products, and the owner of the Sabrett trademark.

He died Friday in Rockleigh, N.J. Sabrett hot dogs are sold across the country. On the streets of New York, they are sold from stainless-steel pushcarts with blue-and-yellow umbrellas. Marathon also supplies franks to Papaya King and Gray's Papaya restaurants, and sells more than 35 million pounds of hot dogs a year.

Son-in-law Mark Rosen told The Record of Hackensack that Papalexis was "the single biggest hot dog lover in the world."  

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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