A Great Brewing Friend Passes
by Mark Tumarkin

A moment of silence -

I recently read of the passing of FX Matt II, let's have a moment of silence and perhaps raise a glass in toast to one of the good guys of corporate brewing. Following is his obituary. -

F X Matt II passed away on January 15, 2001, at the age of 67. He was the
head of the FX Matt Brewing Company in Utica, New York. Most of you are
familiar with Utica Club, the brewery's original name and the name of their
flagship product for decades. Most of you are even more familiar with
SARANAC, their flagship product today. And therein lies the brewing part
of FX's legend. Ten years ago he bet his company, a 100 year-old family
business, his future and his family's future on craft brewing. He asked his
brother Nick and his son Fred to leave successful corporate positions and
come home to help him reinvent the brewery and its products; he came back
from a trip to Europe determined to brew beer as good as those he'd had
there--world class beers. He did it. He won the bet. Together, the family
created and marketed one of the most consistently excellent lines of craft
beer in America.

FX was respected and warmly regarded by those who knew him, from business
and community leaders who could always rely on him to his employees, some
150 of them--many of them second and third generation employees. He
remained involved in the business on a daily basis, and understood every
aspect of it.

A Princeton University graduate, he loved art, poetry, literature, and
great beer. The brewery remains one of Utica's true business success stories,
and one of craft brewing's success stories, but his is also a story of
caring, family, integrity, and pride.

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