Founder of Wilber’s Barbecue, one of NC’s historic barbecue restaurants, dies
The longtime owner and namesake of Wilber’s Barbecue, one of North Carolina’s historic whole hog restaurants, has died.
Wilberdean Shirley, who opened Wilber’s Barbecue in 1962 in Goldsboro after buying an existing barbecue restaurant, died Monday at 90 years old.
The restaurant announced its founder’s death on its Facebook page Monday afternoon.
“It with a heavy heart we share that Mr. Wilberdean Shirley has gone to be with the Lord,” the restaurant said on Facebook. “We are grateful for all he has done for the community and ask that you lift his family up in your prayers during this time.”
For decades, Wilber’s carried the torch of Eastern North Carolina whole hog barbecue, existing as one of the state’s destinations for pilgrims of smoked meats and country sides.
Shirley believed his pits imparted their own special qualities on the barbecue they produced, qualities that he said couldn’t be recreated out of thin air, telling the New York Times in 1995 that Wilber’s had a personality of its own.
“Just about every barbecue joint has its own identity,” Shirley is quoted in the New York Times story on Eastern North Carolina barbecue. “You can’t move this to Raleigh, Atlanta or New York, because I wouldn’t be there.”
Today, the restaurant remains one of the few remaining joints still cooking hogs over wood coals.
“A fellow come here one day offering to sell me a gas cooker,” Shirley told The News & Obsever in 2012. “I told him I’d appreciate him going around back so my customers wouldn’t see him.”
In recent years, the restaurant faced bankruptcy, and Shirley sold it in 2019 to Goldpit Partners, a group of Goldsboro natives looking to keep the restaurant open. Following renovations, Wilber’s reopened in the summer of 2020.
“We’re heavy-hearted today,” said Willis Underwood, one of the co-owners of Wilber’s, on the death of Shirley.
“Wilber helped make famous what we still serve today — Eastern North Carolina, whole hog BBQ cooked over wood,” the restaurant said in an emailed statement Monday. “We look forward to carrying on his legacy for years to come.”
In recent years, North Carolina has lost a number of its historic barbecue restaurants, including Allen & Son in Chapel Hill and Bill’s in Wilson. Both have closed.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Founder of Wilber’s Barbecue, one of NC’s historic barbecue restaurants, dies."
