The head of Brace’s Bakery, 96-year-old Colin Brace, died on February 12 after a short illness.
Mr Brace lived in Blackwood and was awarded an OBE in 2013 for his services to baking and the community in Wales.
The bakery firm paid tribute to their former chairman: “It’s a sad day at Brace’s Bakery. Colin Brace our chairman passed away after a short illness surrounded by his family, at the age of 96.
“We saw Colin last Thursday at the bakery when he came to work as he did most days. He will be missed by us all.”
Mr Brace was the grandson of company founder, George Brace, and had worked for the bakery since 1946. He took control of the business in 1974 following the death of his father Ernest.
The Brace family have been inundated with goodwill messages from the many people who knew Mr Brace, including condolence messages on social media.
Current and former Brace’s workers went online to pay tribute to their boss, along with celebrity condolences from former Welsh Rugby Union international Rupert Moon and television, radio, newspaper columnist and author Carolyn Hitt.
Due to the numbers of people who want to attend the funeral and pay tribute to Colin the family has decided to livestream the funeral via videolink to a room they have hired at the Celtic Manor Resort.
The funeral will take place at 11.30am, Friday 9 March at Langstone Vale Crematorium, Langstone and the family have asked people not to send flowers but instead to donate to charity – the details will be notified soon.