Vincent Sardi, 91, Broadway’s Favorite Host
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Vincent Sardi, owner of Sardi’s restaurant, the legendary Broadway watering hole where for decades the New York theater world celebrated its opening nights, died yesterday at 91 at a hospital in Berlin, Vt.
Celebrities flocked to the midtown boit to ogle their own caricatures staring back at them from the walls. Careers and deals flowed as freely as champagne.
Sardi worked the room with confidence and grace born of decades spent with theatrical elites. Sardi’s father, Vincent Sr., founded the restaurant in 1921 in the basement of a West 44th Street brownstone, and the son took over around 1945 after serving in the Marines. Sardi sold out in 1985 but ended taking control of the restaurant again about five years later. He finally retired in 1997. His grandson, Sean Ricketts, now manages the landmark eatery.
Max Klimavicius, Sardi’s business partner, said the restaurant’s enduring success proved the quickwitted Sardi was more than a personality. He said Sardi was a good businessman who also loved to eat.
