Matty Maher, the owner of McSorley's Old Ale House, died this weekend of lung cancer at the age of 80, according to the bar's Facebook page, where it was noted that he died peacefully with family and friends by his side singing him Irish melodies.
Maher bought the storied bar in 1977, and his daughter has pledged to keep the bar in the family. And your beverage options will remain the same as ever: light or dark beer, thoughtfully poured into two mugs for sharing.
The bar opened in 1854 and only allowed men through the doors for decades—it was only after the Supreme Court intervened that women were allowed inside, and that wasn't until 1970.
"McSorley’s can boast of being New York City’s oldest continuously operated saloon. Everyone from Abe Lincoln to John Lennon have passed thru McSorley’s swinging doors," the bar's website said.
Visitors have been toasting Maher's memory:
Maher was memorialized in the Irish publication Kilkenny People on Saturday as "the accordion playing, fun loving Threecastles man who had a kind word for everyone was revered by Kilkenny exiles and his love of hurling and the GAA was famous. He always came home for the hurling All Ireland and was in Croke Park last August for the final against Tipperary. He made friends easily and never forgot one."
"Kilkenny and Irish people in New York lose a great friend," the paper concluded.
The legend of how Maher came to own the bar involved fortunate timing—"while visiting Ireland (then-owner) Harry Kirwan’s car breaks down. He is picked up on the road by Matthew Maher. Harry promises him a job in New York. Matty goes to NY to work as a waiter and bartender at McSorley’s," the bar's website notes. Kirwan died in 1975, and a couple of years later Maher, by then the bar's night manager, bought the establishment.
Circa 1978.
Maher was protective of the bar's history to extraordinary lengths, as a former bartender told Gothamist about their sacred collection of decaying turkey wishbones from dead WWI soldiers: "The story at McSorley's was that we never touched them—they were collecting dust for what turned out to be 93 years...in 2010 we eventually had to dust them because of the city health department...My father and I were working the last night before they were dusted, and then at 3 a.m. the owner Matthew Maher came in on his own and took them down one-by-one, dusted them, put them back on the gas lamp, then swept all the dust into a ziplock bag that he still has at home with him in Queens...And I came to really respect Matt's decision to dust them himself—not every owner of a business would necessarily do that, especially when the only way to do it would be to come in at 3 in the morning when nobody else was paying attention. He did it himself because he knew better than anyone what these meant to all of us."
Maher's story was one of "hustle and grit," the McSorley's Facebook post said. "But Matty left poverty back in Ireland and he was determined to leave it behind for good. He saw an opportunity and believed in the American Dream. And he loved history and all things Irish and knew McSorley's and the city could survive when so many others told him he was absolutely nuts. All of us who were lucky enough to have known the man will forever be eternally grateful for his generous spirit, and his compassionate understanding and forgiveness in man's folly."
