The longtime owner of one of Manhattan’s most storied taverns passed away Saturday — and his family and friends expect to give him as good a sendoff as an Irish immigrant in New York could hope for.
Matty Maher, who took over the reins at McSorley’s Old Ale House in 1977, succumbed to lung cancer. He was 80.
McSorley’s first opened on E. Seventh St. in the East Village in 1854 as The Old House at Home. Aside from holding the title as the city’s oldest Irish pub, the watering hole is known for its sawdust-covered floors and its limited drink menu.
The spot’s bartenders serve only “dark” or “light” ales, which are poured into mugs like ticker-tape and slid down the bar to thirsty patrons.
The bar will remain in the family, said Maher’s oldest daughter, Ann Pullman.
“We expect to keep it going exactly how it’s been since the doors first opened in 1854,” Pullman said.
Maher’s journey to America began in 1964 when, at 25, he was living in Kilkenny, a county in Ireland, and stopped on the side of the road to help a man who had a flat tire.
The motorist was Harry Kirwan, the then-owner of McSorley’s. Kirwan told Maher to reach out to him for work at the bar if he ever moved to New York.
Maher took up the offer, worked his way up at the bar, and ended up purchasing the establishment from Kirwan’s family 15 years later.
“He was very well known, both here and in Ireland,” said Pullman. “He had the most wonderful stories to tell. I had never seen him angry, he would always help.”
“I’m hearing from everyone that the general consensus is that he was an absolute legend,” she added.
While Maher kept McSorely’s largely the same under his ownership, Pullman noted he also helped bring some progress to the aged establishment.
Most notably, he added a women’s bathroom to the place in 1986, some 16 years after a court order forced the longtime boy’s club to open its doors to women.
Pullman said family members and friends are heading out from Ireland to attend Maher’s funeral.
His wake will be held Tuesdayat Martin A. Gleason Funeral Home on Northern Blvd. in Flushing, Queens, and his funeral is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Trinity Church in Whitestone. He’ll be buried at Locust Valley Cemetery in Nassau County.
Bartenders at McSorley’s were already commemorating Maher’s life over drinks at the bar Sunday, which was packed with tourists snapping photos of the iconic location.
“We’ve been inundated with calls and comments, everybody’s had something nice to say,” said bartender Michael Brannigan, 49, Maher’s nephew and a 30-year veteran of the bar. “It’s amazing, he hasn’t worked in 30 years and everyone still remembers him. He made an impact.”
Bartender Pepe Zwaryczuk, 64, who has worked at the bar for 46 years, said everyone he knew was shocked by the news of Maher’s death.
“You couldn’t ask for a better boss,” said Zwaryczuk. “Everyone that’s ever worked for him just can’t believe it. He’s been a fixture here since 1964.”
Brannigan said Maher was very community-focused, and considered McSorley’s to be owned by everyone who drank there.
“People’d always ask him, ‘You own the bar?’ ” said Brannigan. “He’d say, ‘No, you own the bar.’ The customers own it.”
