Jonathan Weed Tweedy, 53, a native of Darien and resident of New York, died Tuesday, May 24, following a long battle against myelofibrosis. He died at New York Presbyterian Hospital from complications following a stem-cell transplant.
Born on June 10, 1957, at Stamford Hospital, Tweedy attended Darien schools and Phillips Andover Academy before graduating from Yale University in 1979.
Tweedy was a successful entrepreneur, a longstanding family historian, a talented musician, a natural athlete and sparkling intellect. He had a gift of interpersonal connection and charm that attracted scores of friends.
He had a great love for the family property on Nearwater Lane where he grew up, with relatives living in homes on all sides. His house was only a stone's throw from the 1749 Nathan Weed house, where his grandmother, Sarah Weed Dorrance, had grown up. Tweedy had a passion for his extended family and the land on which it settled. He wrote about his ancestors in "The Weed Family of Noroton, A History and Genealogy."
"Growing up in Noroton, on land that has been in the Weed Family for over 250 years, has certainly contributed to the way in which the family has remained alive in my imagination," he wrote in the book. "It was a fantastic place to be a child, with a cousin's house no matter which direction one walked, with old barns and chicken coops, empty fields and paths.... That place has flown the way of the rotary phone and the family station wagon, yet with growing up comes the realization that what is important is not the land but the idea of family that the land helped nurture."
One tradition shared by family and friends that Tweedy returned for every year was the annual Labor Day celebration, which dated back to the first decades of the 20th century and centered on skits and a tennis tournament in which he frequently prevailed. He also loved the annual Numb Thumb paddle tournament that the same group held each Thanksgiving and where, again, he often was the victor.
In addition to his love for the piano, Tweedy sang in several choirs, played the guitar and was most recently learning to play the viola. Between college and graduate school, he played in a band in California. He earned a master's degree in engineering from Columbia University.
An entrepreneur at heart, Tweedy co-owned Lindner's Cycle Shop, a BMW motorcycle dealership in New Canaan. He and his friends enjoyed many motorcycle trips across the United States as well as Europe.
In his 30s, Tweedy decided to return to school and received a law degree, also from Columbia. He then clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Little Rock. He filled his free time there learning to fly, writing his family history and polishing his golf game.
His next business venture was creating upscale pizza restaurants with a business partner in New York City. Beginning with Gruppo on the lower East Side in 2000, they proceeded to add four more: Posto, Vezzo, Spunto and, finally, Tappo, which he proudly opened the day before entering the hospital for his stem-cell transplant. He lived in the City, but also had a home in Millbrook, N.Y., where he created an organic farm to supply the restaurants.
In his spare time, Tweedy enjoyed playing bridge with friends. Most mornings, he could be found with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, whether it was during a family vacation in the woods of New Hampshire, where he passed on his love of the crossword to the next generation, or one of his regular breakfast gatherings at a neighborhood coffee shop in the city, where he and friends debated the issues of the day.
Tweedy is survived by three brothers, David and his wife, Ellie Tweedy, of Brooklyn, Burr, of Cambridge, Mass., and Jim and his wife, Meg Tweedy, of Darien; his stepmother, Joan Tweedy, of Darien; two stepbrothers, Philip and his wife, Lucy Hann Livingston, of New York City, and Chico and his wife, Lynne Livingston, of Santa Fe; two stepsisters, Patty Livingston and her husband, Tom Gottsleben, of Saugerties, N.Y., and Millie Livingston, of Seattle; two nieces, two nephews and nine step-nieces and step-nephews. He was predeceased by his sister-in-law, Robin Tweedy.
A memorial will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 9 at St. George's Church, 7 Rutherford Place, Manhattan.
Donations in his memory can be made to one of the following organizations. Please put his name in the memo line or enclose a note: The National Bone Marrow Donor Program, Be the Match Foundation, 3001 Broadway Street, N.E., Suite 601, Minneapolis, MN 55413. Or Squam Lakes Conservation Society, P.O. Box 696, Holderness, NH 03245.
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