Benjamin Moore, the soft and gentle cat who greeted customers at the Waverly Ace Hardware, died Monday.

In the store, on cold days such as Tuesday, when snow started to blanket the region, Benjamin would have been curled up in his cat tree, snuggling on a heating pad and sleeping the day away.

The 15-year-old cat with a shiny orange and white coat died from kidney disease, according to a Facebook post from Benjamin’s account. The loss of the beloved Benjamin was felt across Baltimore.

Multiple Facebook users commented on the news of Benjamin’s death: “Thanks for sharing Benjamin with all of us,” one user wrote. “He was such a wonderful cat that brought infinite smiles and joy every time I got to see him. Sending hugs and thank you for caring for that sweet boy.”

Other people shared photos they took of Benjamin sleeping in the store, and said how he had made their day.

“I loved going in for some hardware stuff and visiting him!! He brought the community so much joy,” another person wrote.

In his older age, Benjamin — who was fittingly named after the paint company Benjamin Moore — would sleep all day on his cat tree between the front door and the register. He was tolerant of everyone who wanted to play with him, pet him or even poke him, Nathan Shaw, an assistant store manager, said.

When Benjamin was too old to be a store cat, his coworkers threw him a retirement party in 2023. Dozens of people came to say goodbye, thank him for his hard work, and of course, bring him toys and treats.

During his career, he helped keep the mouse population low and brought smiles on everyone’s faces.

Benjamin had some special guests at his retirement party: State Sen. Mary Washington, Baltimore City Council member Odette Ramos and the Animal Allies Rescue Foundation — the group a former store manager adopted Benjamin from in 2011 — all attended.

The City Council even gave Benjamin an official thank you, Shaw said.

“It was surprising and funny,” he said. “News outlets showed up, but also just the response we heard from people in the community about how much he meant as a symbol of the neighborhood, it was really nice.”

Dozens of people signed his card, wishing him a happy retirement, and Ramos, along with a few others, spoke about Benjamin, Shaw said.

He went on to live his best, lazy and cozy housecat life with one of his human coworkers.

Shaw said after he started working at the store, “It was surprising how often people just stopped in just to see the cat.”

In those younger cat years, Benjamin would often move around the store and perk up at closing time. Shaw said his colleagues would joke that Benjamin was waiting for the humans to leave so he could run around the store at night.

But as he got older and slept more, as old cats do, he would wake up every few hours and demand to be fed his favorite treats that his coworkers kept by the register, Shaw said.

Benjamin would happily eat his Greenies treats and then lie back down on his cat tree and get back to some hard-earned sleep.