Loved ones remember Kerry Brace, Rogues pub owner

Late last month, Kerry Brace, owner of The Corner Pub at Rogues Harbor, died at the age of 52 due to complications from COVID-19. For the many people whose lives he touched over the years, Lansing will never be the same without him, as his family and friends can attest.

According to Brace’s obituary (available at bangsfuneralhome.com/obituary/Kerry-Brace), Brace grew up in the Ovid and Sheldrake, New York, area, attending South Seneca Central School. After graduating, he owned and operated his own contracting company for many years. He also quickly grew a reputation as “bartender extraordinaire” thanks to his many years’ worth of experience in the bar and restaurant business.

One of his earliest local restaurant gigs was at The Lighthouse at Kidders Landing, where he was a partial owner. He later worked at Rogues Harbor under owner Eileen Stout and gained quite the following.

“He enjoyed bartending, talking with the customers, being friendly, laughing, joking,” said Kathy Leonardo, Brace’s partner of 25 years. “And he was a good bartender. People recognized that, and they would come on the nights that he worked here. His nights were Tuesdays and Fridays, and Tuesday night was wing night special, and he had a following crowd that would come in then. And then, he would bartend Friday night, and he had a crowd that would follow him.”

Around 2016, Stout sold the property to a young couple, but that was rather short-lived, as the couple soon closed all of Rogues Harbor — the inn, the bar and the restaurant. Then, in 2019 (as the Lansing Star reported at tinyurl.com/yby8vvb9), Stout once again took over ownership of the property and reopened Rogues Harbor as an inn.

In 2019, Stout asked Brace if he would be interested in reopening the restaurant side of Rogues Harbor, dubbed The Corner Pub, as its new owner. Leonardo described his reaction.

“He was older, and we were at the point where we’re making plans to move south and retire,” she said. “I retired, and he had his own contracting business. But then, this opportunity came up. He said no, at first, and then I was taking care of my mother who was sick, and I really couldn’t go anywhere. So, I told him to go ahead and do it. I would be another two, three years at least taking care of her. And then she passed two weeks later after he signed the lease. So, here we are.”

Later that year, Brace announced that he would be opening The Corner Pub at Rogues Harbor, with the goal to open by January of 2020 (tinyurl.com/yczj88ne). But necessary renovations — many due to the pandemic — led to a significant delay, and it wasn’t until April of 2021 that The Corner Pub finally opened for business.

“When the pandemic hit, at first, he rebuilt the kitchen here,” Leonardo said. “So, he put his heart and soul in here as far as that and redoing all these booths that would meet the Health Department standards because of the pandemic.”

Brace kept the layout of the pub mostly consistent from its original floorplan but made several changes to improve the space and make it better suited to health-conscious clientele. Dividers were added to the booths, the kitchen was moved to be closer to the bar, and Brace put in a lot of time building a prep room downstairs, redoing the floor upstairs and painting the walls throughout the pub.

Brace’s loved ones had no doubt that all that work would pay off, as his good friend and brother by choice Tony Podufalski described.

“I knew once he opened, people were going to come,” he said. “That’s how well known [he was]. … The first night we opened, I sat behind the bar [and said], ‘OK. Should I post something on Facebook?’ He goes, ‘Absolutely not. I only told one person. We’re just going to turn the neons on.’ And within a half an hour, this place was packed, absolutely packed.”

Leonardo said that it was thanks to Brace that The Corner Pub became the “heart” of Lansing it is today.

In addition to his bartending and contracting skills, Brace was quite the dart player. He was a member of the dart team Wise Guys and the Interlaken Sportsman’s Club and made many friends through darts.

No matter where he went, Brace left an impact. As Leonardo said, “He never met a person that he didn’t call a friend.” He loved his family, including his grandchildren, as well as his many friends and coworkers at the pub.

Since his death, many have come to Lansing to tell his family all about the wonderful memories they have of him. As Podufalski described, Brace will be missed by “an entire community,” as he touched “so many lives on both sides of the lake.”

As far as the future of The Corner Pub, Leonardo said that is uncertain right now. But at least for the time being, it will remain open its regular hours, continuing to welcome folks to the historic spot. Still, Leonardo and Podufalski know it just won’t be the same without Brace there.

“He finally realized his dream here,” Leonardo said. “We would like to see everybody that came before to continue to come in. He would be happy to see them continue to frequent here.”

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.