KEVIN BRAWLEY

BRAWLEY, KEVIN Kevin Brawley, the popular Westport, CT restaurateur, whose broad smile and quick wit earned him a wide range of friends and customers, died December 7 at Yale New Haven Hospital. He was 59. One of his restaurants, Tavern on Main, became a landmark in downtown Westport where he managed the front of the house. He was always present to warmly greet customers by name, and ushered them into a seat by one of the two fireplaces or a window overlooking Main Street. He befriended many, who soon became loyal customers. Mr. Brawley began his career as a busboy at Mario’s Place in Saugatuck learning the business while still in high school. He moved up to maitre D’ status and, with his colleague Danny Horelick in 1980, opened Dunville’s on Riverside Avenue. After selling his share of Dunville’s to his manager, Steve Carpentieri in 1993, Mr. Brawley and partner Jocko Saltus opened Tavern on Main at the former site of the old time favorite, Chez Pierre restaurant. Mr. Brawley sold Tavern on Main in 2006. The youngest of three children, Kevin Baker Brawley was born on June 14, 1955 in New York City, the son of the late Arthur L. Brawley, a senior editor at Sports Illustrated, and the late Phyllis Seelye Brawley. His early years were spent in Riverdale, The Bronx. In 1962 the family moved to Westport. After the death of his mother in 1963, his father married Peggy Downey, a reporter at Sports Illustrated. Mr. Brawley graduated from Staples High School in 1973. In 1986 he married his childhood sweetheart, Randi Klarman, also of Westport. The couple had two sons and lived in Easton. They divorced in 2005. Mr. Brawley played a swift game of tennis and enjoyed fishing the waters of Cape Cod near his summer home in Truro, MA. He leaves his sons, Jake and Luke, sisters Kathryn of Norwalk, Priscilla Cornell and brother-in law, Charles Cornell, of Greenwich, a brother John of Duxbury, MA, his step mother Peggy Brawley of Hope Town, The Bahamas, and three nephews and two nieces. A memorial service and celebration of his life is planned for Sunday, January 4, 2015 at 3pm at The Unitarian Church in Westport.

This obituary was originally published in Minuteman (Fairfield, CT).