Beloved local chocolatier Cassandra Fear dies in weekend hit-and-run on Cleveland’s West Side

CLEVELAND, Ohio-- A deadly hit-and-run claimed the life of beloved Cleveland chocolatier Cassandra Fear over the weekend.

Fear was struck by a vehicle after being involved in an accident with a parked car on the 3700 block of W.

130th Street around 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 16.

She was hit after exiting her vehicle. EMS pronounced her dead at the scene.

Cleveland Police have confirmed that the accident remains under investigation and no arrests have been made as of today.

The 41-year-old Fear owned Fears Confections, a small-batch artisan confectionary[1] that began as a mail-order company in 2010.

Growth of the business led her to open a brick-and-mortar shop in the Collinwood neighborhood in 2013. She moved the business to Lakewood the following year in September 2022, celebrated her shop's 12th anniversary with a community party and was planning an expansion.

Fear ultimately closed her shop the following year and took a position as a Cuyahoga County clerk and was singing in the Siren Song Quartet during her off-hours.

The confectioner was remembered by friends who took to social media[2], describing her as "kind and giving," trumpeting her social advocacy, her big heart, a quirky irreverent sense of humor and would "give the shirt off of her back" for people she cared about.

Those people also shared their sadness, anger and disbelief at the heartbreaking news.

Among those reflecting was artist and friend Linda Zoltan Wood, who volunteered to assist Fear from time to time.

She likened the shock and loss to that of the murder of Cleveland.com reporter Nikki Delamotte[3].

Wood called Fear "young, gifted, [a] rising star" who "supported EVERYONE" and was "just starting to enjoy her next chapter" and expressed the added cruelty and profound sadness for Fear's husband Jeremy and two children at this happening "right before Christmas."

Fear was a one-of-a-kind, just like her chocolates and her shop.

All had a decidedly vintage feel and she regularly embedded nods to pop culture into her work.

In the lead-up to the finale of the wildly popular HBO series "Game of Thrones," for example, she celebrated the aftermath of character Daenerys Targaryen's ruin of King's Landing by creating chocolate dragon eggs-- depositing a small toy plastic dragon inside each one, then dusting them with shimmering sugar dust.

She would take similar approaches with other pop culture signposts, including hand-poured chocolate homages to "Star Wars," "Dungeons & Dragons," the BBC's "Doctor Who," skulls, skeletons and many others. "Cassie" delighted when kids and adults alike would visit the shop for her heartfelt creations.

"All of the products offered are made in small batches using the freshest possible ingredients with no additional preservatives giving them a truly homemade essence," she wrote on her company website.

"My products as well as my store reflect my rockabilly personality through a clearly vintage feel, with a splash of modern edge.

Everything is made by hand with the care most expect to have been long forgotten by today's mass-produced disposable society."

Fear struggled to find her footing with the business, though a social media exchange with celebrity chef Alton Brown[4] in 2018 would lead to a morning visit from Brown and a lot of notoriety.

The business ultimately succumbed to the post-pandemic challenges that have faced many food and beverage entrepreneurs since March 2020.

A GoFundMe account has been set up[5] to help Fear's family with expenses.

This is a developing story.

References

1. ^ Fears Confections, a small-batch artisan confectionary (fearsconfections.com)
2. ^ remembered by friends who took to social media (m.facebook.com)
3. ^ Cleveland.com reporter Nikki Delamotte (www.cleveland.com)
4. ^ social media exchange with celebrity chef Alton Brown (www.cleveland.com)
5. ^ GoFundMe account has been set up (www.gofundme.com)