Tracy Kennard, who founded Brunette wine bar in Kingston with her husband, Jamie, passed away on Nov. 11, 2021.
Courtesy BrunetteKingston and the broader Hudson Valley community mourn the passing of Tracy Kennard, who formerly owned Brunette wine bar in the Roundout district with her husband, Jamie. Kennard passed away on Thursday, Nov. 11. She was 47.
Kennard was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a form of cancer in the neck and head, in 2019. In 2020 she and her husband sold Brunette — the wine bar itself, located at 33 Broadway in Kingston, as well as all of the bar’s branding and identity — to new owners, Maxwell Botwick and Jessie Harris. Kennard continued working for her brand strategy consulting company, Kennard & Daughters.
In a7月为《纽约时报》评论文章, Kennard wrote with grace about her loss of the ability taste and struggle to eat while undergoing treatment for cancer. “I almost died nine months ago,” Kennard wrote for the Times. “Not from cancer, which I have and which my doctors tell me I will not survive — but from malnutrition, a side effect of cancer treatment.”
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The Kennards owned a home in Ulster County between Kingston and Woodstock. They were home-owning weekenders since 2006 and moved to the area permanently from the New York City borough of Queens in 2014.
Brunette wine bar opened in Kingston in 2015, blending timeless design elements with vintage finds and always featuring fresh flowers, a signature of Tracy Kennard.
Tracy ZiemerThe couple renovated a former barber shop in the Roundout district and in 2015 opened the stylish space as wine bar Brunette, which quickly gained a supportive following. The couple was known for their unpretentious approach to natural wine and unexpected, well-executed menu of small plates like hot dogs and trout roe nachos.
In anInstagram post on Friday, Brunette owners said of Kennard: “Tracy was wildly sharp, honest and intentional, and effortless with her words and her style … in a perfect world, Tracy and Jamie would still be charming you from behind this gorgeous marble-top bar. But here we are, trying our very hardest to replicate the genius of [Tracy], knowing very well it’s an impossible task.”
Funeral services were not announced by press time.
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