Tom Brennan, former Lindenhurst Village mayor, funeral home owner, dies at 75

Whenever former Lindenhurst Village Mayor Tom Brennan would get ready to go pick up a pizza, his young children would argue over who went with him.

Not because they wanted to go, his daughter Kristen Dorner said with a laugh. Instead they worried about getting stuck standing around when Brennan, who was also the longtime funeral director and owner of Lindenhurst Funeral Home, inevitably ran into someone he knew and would talk to them. Even on family trips to Disney World, Brennan would run into people from Long Island and would stop to talk, his children said.

"No matter what was going on, he would still give that time to people and make them feel like what they were going through ... was the most important thing," his daughter said. "He would be right there, invested in them."

Brennan died at home from complications of diabetes on Feb. 26. He was 75.

Brennan was born in 1950 in Queens and lived in North Babylon before moving to Lindenhurst, his wife Diane said. He graduated in 1968 from Lindenhurst High School. After graduation Brennan served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1972.

That's when Tom and Diane’s mothers, who worked together in women’s sportswear at an A & S department store, hatched a plan. They decided their children should be together and, in August 1970, Diane and Tom had a blind date. After that, every time Tom came back into town, the couple would meet.

"I thought he was handsome and very respectful and there was just this connection," his widow said.

The couple married and bought a house in Lindenhurst, where they raised two sons and a daughter. Brennan, who as a teenager began working for the Johnstons Wellwood Funeral Home in Lindenhurst, decided to pursue it as a career. He graduated cum laude from the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in Manhattan in 1973.

He was hired as the funeral director at Johnstons, where he remained until 1996 when he left for the Lindenhurst Funeral Home. In 2009 Brennan took over ownership of the business.

Well-known in the village, Brennan in 1999 was appointed to the seat of a departing village trustee. He was elected to a four-year term in 2000. In 2004, he was elected mayor of Lindenhurst and then reelected three more times.

His tenure included the period after Superstorm Sandy slammed the village in 2012. His family remembered Brennan’s dedication in the weeks after the storm to residents south of Montauk who were most impacted.

"He didn’t sleep, he would drive around in the truck all night, making sure everybody got what they needed," his son Tom Brennan said. The family started calling him "two pot" because, with no electricity, the mayor showered using two pots of heated water, his son said.

Brennan’s political colleagues remembered him as a quiet, humble straight shooter who kept an even demeanor and rarely raised his voice.

Babylon Town Councilman Anthony Manetta first met Brennan when he went to work for him as a teenager at the funeral home.

"It was an amazing connection and compassion he had with people," he said.

"He really just always put the community first, in every facet of his life, whether it was helping grieving families in the funeral home or helping constituents with their issues in village government," Manetta said

Lindenhurst Village Mayor Mike Lavorata, who served as a trustee under Brennan, said he learned lessons in demeanor from his predecessor.

"He knew how to always be understanding and kind with people even if you didn’t agree with them," Lavorata said.

When Brennan wasn’t at the funeral home or village hall, he was working on the couple’s fixer-upper house or his own cars. He also was an avid fisherman who enjoyed going out on the Great South Bay.  A lifelong baseball devotee, Brennan recreationally played outfield on various adult teams. Over the years he served as secretary, director, manager and coach with the Lindenhurst National Little League and was on the board of the Lindenhurst Youth Center.

The devoted dad was also present at all of his sons’ games and even practices, his son Tom said.

"As busy as he was, he would drop everything to be there," he said. "He was there anytime I needed him."

 Her father wasn’t a "typical girly dad," Dorner, of upstate Red Hook, said. But every dance recital or other "girly" event she had, there was Brennan, watching and cheering his daughter on from the audience.

"I know it was torture for him, but he always made the effort and would ask questions like ‘what kind of dance was that again?’ " Dorner said with a laugh. 

After a stroke in 2017 limited his mobility, Brennan stepped down from office and handed over the funeral home management to his son Tom.

His son said Brennan taught his children the value of money, but also of generosity.

"He was cheap, but he wouldn’t hesitate to pay for someone or give out a loan," Tom said. "And he wouldn’t even tell anybody. He just did what was right." 

In addition to his wife, daughter and son, Brennan is survived by son Joseph, of upstate Afton; brother William, of Lindenhurst; and four grandsons.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Lindenhurst on March 3 followed by burial in Breslau Cemetery in Lindenhurst.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.