NEW ORLEANS -- Jimmy Brennan, a member of the famed restaurant family who along with his brothers helped preserve Brennan’s Restaurant’s status as a French Quarter landmark, died July 18. He was 70.
Mr. Brennan was active in the family restaurant until only recently, according to his younger brother Ted Brennan, who said Jimmy Brennan had battled cancer several years ago, but “fought it with all he had.”
“To all of us, losing him is more than losing a person. It truly is like losing a force in our lives,” Ted Brennan said.
Jimmy Brennan’s lasting contribution to the restaurant, according to his brother, was the establishment’s world-renowned wine cellar, for which Mr. Brennan had a special affinity. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, when heat and humidity decimated the collection, the cellar held some 35,000 bottles.
According to the Wine Spectator, one of the wine industry's leading trade publications, Brennan's at one point had the largest cellar in the southeastern United States.
Post-Katrina, Mr. Brennan's knowledge of fine wines and connections in the wine business helped build the cellar back up to nearly half that amount.
Mr. Brennan was the middle son of Owen Edward Brennan Jr., the founder of Brennan’s on Royal Street. Together with his brothers Ted and Owen Jr., called “Pip,” Jimmy Brennan helped carry on the traditions of the legendary New Orleans restaurant opened by his father in 1946.
Jimmy Brennan’s aunt, Ella Brennan, is the matriarch of the restaurant family whose holdings include Commander’s Palace. Other family members, including restaurateurs Ralph, Cindy and Dickie Brennan and their relatives, now run their own successful restaurants.
According to his brother, Mr. Brennan is survived by two daughters, a son-in-law and grandson. Funeral services were private.
