Popular Homewood bar owner, Gulf War veteran
Brian K. Stanton was determined to make sure the homeless of Homewood would never go hungry.
It wasn’t at all unusual to see Mr. Stanton, a local bar owner and Gulf War veteran, lugging around boxes of food he would distribute in the backstreets and beneath bridges in the area.
“He would also pack lunches to take to the [Homewood-Brushton] YMCA,” said his mother, Marlene Stanton, of Penn Hills. “It was his goal to feed the homeless.”
Mr. Stanton, 50, of Penn Hills, died Saturday in his sleep of an apparent heart attack.
Homeless people in the area knew they could call Lounge 7101 2nd Time Around or DJ’s Bar & Grill, both on Frankstown Avenue in Homewood, any time for a free meal, said Mrs. Stanton, who co-owned the businesses with her son.
“All they had to do was call, and he would bring the food up to them,” she said. “One day, he just said, ‘We’re going to feed the homeless,’ and that was it. It worked out great, and they loved Brian.”
Along with lunches and delivery orders, Mr. Stanton hosted an annual Thanksgiving dinner for local seniors.
Mr. Stanton grew up in Penn Hills, graduating from Penn Hills High School in 1988 before enlisting in the U.S. Army, where he fought in the Gulf War in the early 1990s.
During his four-year enlistment, Mr. Stanton took law classes before returning home to pursue a different career path, his mother said.
“At first, he wanted to be a lawyer, but he changed his mind and wanted to be a bar owner instead,” she said.
In 2001, Mr. Stanton and his mother bought Lounge 7101, followed four years later by DJ’s, less than a block away. When a buyer came forward with an offer, they briefly closed Lounge 7101 but reopened in 2012 when the sale fell through — hence the “2nd Time Around” moniker.
“We knew both of the original owners,” said Mrs. Stanton, who added one of the owners was determined her son should purchase the business because of his work ethic and hustle.
Mr. Stanton’s outgoing personality and affinity for marketing and promotion helped, too, she said.
“Brian was really good with people,” she said. “He was the glue that kept our business and family together.”
Mr. Stanton also was a community activist, especially in the years after the war, his mother said.
“Right after he got out of the service, he was part of an anti-gang task force and he would go and talk to the local gangs,” Mrs. Stanton said.
Along with his businesses and volunteer work, Mr. Stanton held down a fulltime job as a supervisor at the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, where he worked during daylight hours. In the evenings, he would organize jazz nights, poetry readings and other events at the bars.
“You would see him at the end of the day sitting at the bar with a Grey Goose and a beer,” his mother said.
Mrs. Stanton said she has decided to keep the bars open for now, especially because there is such a high demand for food during the pandemic.
“We’re going to keep them going,” she said.
Her son was a force for good who should be remembered for his generous spirit and the kindness he showed to others, Mrs. Stanton said.
“I feel so proud because ‘til the day he died, I never heard anybody ever say anything bad about Brian,” she said. “Everybody has so many positive and good things to say. He would give you his last dollar. He was just that guy.”
Along with his mother, Mr. Stanton is survived by his fiancee, Tiffany McNary, of Penn Hills; his children LaTosha, Bryant and Ryan Stanton, of Penn Hills; and his brother Kenneth Stanton, of Swissvale.
A funeral service is planned for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in the rear courtyard of Gross Funeral Home, 11735 Frankstown Road, in Penn Hills.