Thomas Francis O’Brien, endearing bar owner and host at Roache & O’Brien, has died at 74
Funny, friendly, and welcoming, he created a sense of community in that everyone who sat in his bar felt like they were in his living room. He just wanted folks to be comfortable, he said.
Thomas Francis O’Brien, 74, of Bryn Mawr, endearing bar owner and longtime host at Roache & O’Brien on Lancaster Avenue in Haverford, died Wednesday, Sept. 28, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancer at his home.
Known as Fran or Franny to family and countless friends and customers, Mr. O’Brien was the quintessential Philadelphia barkeep for more than half a century. He took over Roache & O’Brien, a green-trimmed two-story storefront that features an outdoor sign that reads, “Huge burgers,” after his father, the founder, died in 1971.
He spent the next 51 years serving drinks, dishing up those huge homemade burgers, and making memories for nearly everyone he encountered. Dozens of online tributes detail how Mr. O’Brien connected with folks who found their way into his bar, many through the back door. “He had a way of making a hard situation a little bit more bearable,” said his son John.
Friends said Mr. O’Brien “made everyone feel welcome” and treated even strangers “like you were a part of the family.” They called him a “Main Line legend” and said his death marked “the end of an era.”
Sure, some of his best jokes were corny, and he often laughed the loudest, they said. But he helped customers park their cars when Lancaster Avenue got busy, checked in regularly on old pals with health issues, and made his place comfortable for both celebrating successes and washing away disappointments.
“If ever I was having a bad day,” a friend wrote in an online tribute, “I always knew I could pop into the bar for a beer, burger, and a few good jokes. I always felt better when I left.”
Roache & O’Brien opened in 1933, and Mr. O’Brien started out by cleaning the place on Sundays when he was a teenager. Not much changed after he took charge. “I figured I would take it over for a couple years and then sell it,” he told writer Michael Bradley and Main Line Today in 2017. “I’m still here.”
And he still did much of the hard work. On especially grueling nights, he often iced his aching knees with bags of frozen french fries and wound down with Canadian Club whiskey and water.
“It started with his work ethic,” said his son Pat. “He got energized being around people. He made it an old-school bar that brings together a number of different people.” Bradley said Mr. O’Brien “made a small taproom into a welcome hangout for a true menagerie of patrons.”
A 1970 graduate of St. Joseph’s College, now St. Joseph’s University, Mr. O’Brien proclaimed his disdain for archenemy Villanova University whenever he could and routinely called April 1, 1985, the day Villanova won its first national college basketball championship, the “worst day” of his life.
However, many of his best customers were students and professors at Villanova, which is less than two miles west on Lancaster Avenue, and they all reveled in the rivalry. “No words can capture the 30-some years he and we bantered over the ‘Hawk will never die,’ and why Villanova betrayed the Big Five,” a friend said in an online tribute.
Born Jan. 7, 1948, in Ardmore, Mr. O’Brien and his young friends called themselves the Kent Road Gang, and he played baseball, basketball, and football. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in 1965 and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at St. Joseph’s.
He served in the Army National Guard and worked as a salesman for Dow Chemical Co. before taking ownership of Roache & O’Brien. He met Sally Sowers at Roache & O’Brien on St. Patrick’s Day, and they married in 1984, and had sons Pat and John and daughter Cassie.
Mr. O’Brien was active in Our Mother of Good Counsel Parish and coached Catholic Youth Organization basketball teams for 15 years “with a special magic that was unique and truly rewarding to our boys,” a friend said in an online tribute.
He was big on family life and especially liked being called “Frandad” by his grandchildren. He played golf, followed the St. Joseph’s basketball team and the Phillies and Eagles, and, of course, rooted against Villanova. “I am something of an entertainer,” he told Bradley.
In a tribute, a friend said: “We won’t see his like again.”
In addition to his wife, children, and five grandchildren, Mr. O’Brien is survived by three brothers, two sisters, and other relatives.
Services were Oct. 2 and 3.
Donations in his name may be made to Coaches vs. Cancer, 1818 Market St., Suite 2820, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.