Cyril Fitzsimon, Owner Of Famed Montauk Party Spot, Dies Of Coronavirus

Cyril Fitzsimons, whose eponymous restaurant and bar on Napeague was the gatehouse of the Montauk party scene through three decades before being pushed out of business by code violations, died on Friday in The Bronx. He was 76 and had contracted the coronavirus while in a rehabilitation center recovering from a stroke.

Cyril’s Fish House started out as a quaint roadside snack bar and gradually evolved into a raucous party scene that at first swirled around Mr. Fitzsimons, then engulfed him.

Family, friends and former employees remembered him this week as a gregarious, welcoming, generous and feisty champion of fun and revelry.

“Cyril made it what it was,” said Tina Piette, one of Mr. Fitzsimons’s first employees when the Fish House opened in the spring of 1990. “I can’t emphasize enough how generous he was. He never said no. When someone wanted to do a baseball team, he sponsored it. When the rugby team needed sponsors, he sponsored them. He gave to the Rotary, the Lions, the Kiwanis, the church, you name it. He closed the restaurant ever year for a group of kids with cancer and their families to come out and have lunch.”

His son, Richard Fitzsimons, said his dad was fun loving, but was also a fastidious businessman who ran a tight ship at the many bars and restaurants he owned over the years.

“He acted like he wasn’t paying attention sometimes, but he always was,” said Richard, who grew up at Cyril’s and worked their for several years. “He was sharper than a whip and good with numbers.”

The elder Mr. Fitzsimons was born in Dublin, Ireland, but came to the United States when he was in his 20s.

From his own accounts of his life, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps on a whim while in Times Square and served in combat in Vietnam. After his tour of duty, his frequently told tale would go, he returned to Ireland where he opened a pub, got involved peripherally with the Irish Republican Army and eventually fled Ireland to Spain to avoid charges on something to do with explosives.

After 12 years operating at least one, and possibly two, bars in Spain, he returned to America in the 1980s and ultimately found his way in 1989 to Amagansett, taking over the former Skipper’s Galley at the foot of Hither Hills.

The restaurant found quick success with the summer apres-beach crowd of locals, guests at the large Napeague hotels and day-trippers transiting between Montauk and “The Hamptons.”

With the uninsulated building shuttered in the winter, Mr. Fitzsimons started spending winters in the island nation of Anguilla, where he opened a second Cyril’s. The original island outpost was shuttered after being heavily damaged in a hurricane just two years later

Cyril’s was renowned in the Montauk social scene for its laid back island-life vibe, frozen drinks and Mr. Fitzsimons’s holding court, often in a sarong and sport jacket — looking like Major General Stanley on extended holiday — at a table near the bar.

In 2007, Mr. Fitzsimons, in his 60s, tried to halt a burglar who had just beaten the restaurant’s bookkeeper and stolen more than $25,000 of weekend proceeds. He was bowled over by the crook, but a a friend called police, who caught the thieves — a former employee and an accomplice — as they fled west on the only road leading away from the scene of the crime.

When Montauk became the premier destination for young metropolitan region residents looking to party on the weekends, the crowds at Cryril’s mushroomed into throngs of hundreds on summer weekend afternoons.

But the shack was still just a shack with a small bar area and the crowds of revelers spilled out of the loose confines of the place of business and onto rights-of-way. Cars lined the roadside of the state highway for a mile and partiers and those coming and going were often literally standing on Montauk Highway.

The bacchanalia brought complaints, safety concerns and, finally, scrutiny from the East Hampton Town government, which hit the business with a stack of code violations.

After battling the violations for more than two years, Mr. Fitzsimons threw in the towel rather than conform to the new limits that had been imposed on the tiny shack that relied almost entirely on outdoor seating.

“He went into a deep depression from that point on,” said Paul Ryan, a longtime friend of Mr. Fitzsimons. “That place was his lifeblood. You heard it the last few days. So many people that had the best times of their lives at Cyril’s.”

About two dozens friends and former employees held an impromptu memorial at the former Cyril’s on Saturday, hoisting an Irish flag, an American flag and a U.S. Marine Corps flag on a flagpole to toast the former owner.

Mr. Fitzsimons had continued spending winters in Anguilla, even though the last of several bars he owned there over the years had closed. He was back in New York, however, when he fell ill last month.

His son said that Mr. Fitzsimons had suffered a stroke on March 18, just as the coronavirus epidemic was mushrooming in New York City. He had been discharged from the hospital to the Triboro Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing — a facility that has not been particularly hard hit by the epidemic.

“He was coming back, he was making some real strides,” his son said. “Then, all of a sudden, the coronavirus hit. It was just the worst possible time to happen.”

He is survived by his longtime partner Prudence Thomas, and their children, Richard Fitzsimons and Kimani Thomas-Fitzsimons; two brothers, Michael and Philip, and a sister, Elizabeth, all of Dublin.