Francis Henry Brennan: Larger Than
Life
At
6 feet 7 inches tall, Francis Henry Brennan could fill
any room. But it was not just his stature that set him
apart. He was good-natured, funny and generous.
The oldest of six children, he was larger than life to
his younger brothers, said one of them, Brian. He had a
soft hook shot that catapulted him to a starring role on
the St. Agnes High School basketball team in Rockville
Centre, N.Y., in the late 1960's. Teammates nicknamed him
Zelmo, for Zelmo Beatty, a popular basketball player of
that era, Brian Brennan remembered.
Mr. Brennan, 50, who lived in Oak Beach, N.Y., with
his wife, was a senior vice president and limited partner
at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he was a government
securities broker for about 10 years. Before that, he
owned several nightclubs on Long Island, among them
Solomon Grundy's in Bay Shore.
Of all his successes, he was most proud of his
affiliation with the New York Police and Fire Widows' and
Children's Benefit Fund, an organization headed by Rusty
Staub, the former Mets player and a longtime friend. The
night before the attacks, Mr. Brennan and Mr. Staub met
to review plans for a November benefit for the wives and
children of dead firefighters and police officers.
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