Scott Morrison, 54, restaurateur on the Main Line
Scott Morrison, 54, who helped create some of the Main Line's most popular restaurants and more recently co-owned two popular restaurants in Wilmington, died over the weekend at his home in Newtown Square.
Scott Morrison, 54, who helped create some of the Main Line's most popular restaurants and more recently co-owned two popular restaurants in Wilmington, died over the weekend at his home in Newtown Square.
Mr. Morrison was found in his bed Sunday morning, Feb. 14. The Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday said it had not determined the cause of death.
Mr. Morrison was raising his daughters - now teenagers - after his wife's death four years ago from breast cancer.
Mr. Morrison and business partner Joe Van Horn opened Chelsea Tavern and Ernest & Scott Taproom in downtown Wilmington. They also were planning a microbrewery, 3 Doors Brewing Co.
Van Horn said the restaurants would continue. "This is not about us," he said. "We have 65 [employees'] families who look to us and a city we're trying to turn around."
Among Mr. Morrison's Main Line restaurant creations were Tango in Bryn Mawr, Basil in Paoli, the now-closed Avero in Devon, Floret in Radnor, and Maia in Villanova.
His most significant restaurant was Nectar, the pan-Asian restaurant that brought a dose of chic to Berwyn at its opening in 2004. It was designed by the New York-based David Rockwell Group, whose projects include Buddakan in Philadelphia as well as Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Bar Americain in New York, and Gordon Ramsay's Maze in London.
Nectar is one of the busiest date-night restaurants on the Main Line. At his death, Mr. Morrison owned a share of Nectar, though he had largely stepped away from its day-to-day operation.
Patrick Feury, a chef who joined Nectar at the outset with restaurateur Michael Wei and Mr. Morrison, said he and Mr. Morrison enjoyed an early rapport. From their first meeting, Feury said, "we started finishing each other's sentences."
Mr. Morrison's wife, Jennifer, a graphic designer, coined the name of the restaurant and its logo. "They were such a great team," Feury said.
Jennifer Morrison died in January 2012, leaving a son from her first marriage, Kim Beni-Azza, and two daughters, Julia and Helena, from her marriage to Mr. Morrison.
Mr. Morrison grew up in Westport, Conn., and graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He worked in New York before adopting the Philadelphia suburbs as his home.
Services will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at the chapel of Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, said restaurateur Marty Grims, a college classmate and one of Mr. Morrison's oldest friends.