Charles Edward Guns

Charles Edward Guns was born on April 17, 1972 and passed away unexpectedly on April 20, 2024. He is predeceased by his father Charles Joseph Guns and is survived by his mother Kathleene Guns, sister Karen Hannon, brother-in-law Michael Hannon, and his domestic partner Hendrik Kouwenhoven.

Charlie grew up in Harper Woods, Michigan where he attended Harper Woods high-school graduating in 1990. Charlie then attended Macomb College while working at Sears. He introduced his sister to her future husband Michael Hannon who worked at Sears with Charlie. Charlie then attended University of Detroit Mercy graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration. After relocating to Florida in search of more sunshine and swearing to never scrape his car windows again, Charlie began his business career at Shonfeld Securities as a stock trader and team leader. He then left the 9 to 5 world and began to develop real estate in Lake Worth Florida and ran a successful house flipping operation alongside Hendrik and his family. During these years his interests expanded to also become a certified Bikram Yoga instructor teaching in Delray Beach, Florida and later in Lahaina, Maui.

Things changed for Charlie after he met Hendrik in Key West in 2004. Hendrik works in the vacation ownership industry, and the two of them embarked on a 20-year journey that brought them to Honolulu, Maui, Southern California, New York City, and Orlando as well as many personal trips including Italy, England, Germany, Mexico, and others. They had many wonderful experiences and made many great friends during their time together.

Orlando is where Charlie created his lifelong legacy when he opened a small store front commercial kitchen where he cooked and sold healthy dog food and named it Rick’s Dog Deli in honor of his beloved black lab Harper (nicknamed “Ricky”). Twelve years later the business has grown into a vast operation, feeding thousands of dogs with many loyal employees and 5,000 square feet of cooking space. Rick’s Dog Deli will always be Charlie’s legacy, and every dog in Orlando who leads a longer, healthier life will have Charlie to thank for his devotion to his idea.

A celebration of Charlie’s life will take place on Saturday, June 1st at Rick's Dog Deli at 2404 Coolidge Ave, Orlando, FL 32804 from 2pm-5pm. Details will also be posted on the Rick's Dog Deli website, Instagram and Facebook pages. The family is asking in lieu of flowers, etc. for donations to be made in Charlie's name to the local shelter "Pet Rescue by Judy" (petrescuebyjudy.com) where Charlie and Hendrik adopted their current dog, Tiger, in 2011. Of course, dogs are welcome at the celebration!