Family members of the Westchester man who founded the popular Golden Krust food chain are mourning this weekend after he died in what police are calling a suicide.

NYPD officers found the body of Golden Krust Bakery and Grill CEO Lowell Hawthorne inside his Bronx factory with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 57.

The Jamaican-born entrepreneur built his food empire starting back in the 1980s. The franchise now spans eight states with more than 100 locations.

It is unclear what caused Hawthorne to take his own life, but News 12 has discovered that he was dealing with financial difficulties involving at least eight liens and judgments against him in New York.

Family members at Hawthorne's home in White Plains have asked for privacy as they grieve.