Obituary: Peter J. Keveney, 62, Of North Haven

NORTH HAVEN, CT — (From Sisk Brothers Funeral Home): Peter J. Keveney, 62, who befriended many during a long career in the restaurant business, died June 26 at his home in North Haven.

Pete, who showed great strength in taking on two major cancers in the last two years, was the son of the late Carolyn (Olive) Keveney and William J. Keveney. He is survived by his daughters, Carolyn Keveney and Kristen Keveney, both of Virginia; his brother, William Keveney III of Beverly Hills, Calif.; and his sister, Katherine Keveney of North Haven. He was predeceased by his brother Thomas Keveney.

Pete, who was born in New Haven at the Hospital of St. Raphael and attended St. Rita School and Notre Dame High School, was a familiar and welcoming face to so many people in North Haven, Hamden and New Haven. He met many of them through a long and impressive culinary career in which he worked as a chef and short-order cook while skillfully performing many other restaurant duties. He enjoyed preparing delicious, satisfying meals for customers, who invariably became friends.

Across the decades, Pete showed off his talents at a range of New Haven-area establishments, including Fitzwilly’s, Big Top, Demery’s, One Broadway and The Brewery in the 1970s and 1980s and, in recent years, The Colony Inn and famed Glenwood Drive-In.

Pete moved with his family to Fredericksburg, Va., in the late 1980s, where he worked at a number of restaurants before establishing himself as a chef at the highly regarded Riverview Restaurant. He moved back to Connecticut in the early 2000s, renewing friendships and creating new ones through his work and as a regular rider on the Whitney Avenue bus line.

Pete formed lifelong bonds with those he met at work and in school. Many of Pete’s strongest friendships trace their roots to his years as a Boy Scout in Hamden’s Troop 8. He participated in troop alumni activities and remembered the tiniest details of youthful Boy Scout experiences, including fun times spent at Camp Sequassen in northwestern Connecticut.

Pete was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park; his main Facebook photo shows him in Fenway’s Green Monster seats with the beautiful green ball field behind him. He cheered on the Dallas Cowboys from boyhood onward and loved attending Quinnipiac College hockey games. Blueberry-flavored coffee was part of his daily regimen.

Pete enjoyed playing video games – “The Legend of Zelda” was an all-time favorite – but music was his real entertainment passion. Pete was a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, attending many of The Boss’s concerts over the years, and he was devoted to The Grateful Dead and its musical successor, Dead & Company. He was scheduled to attend a Dead & Company concert with friends in early July, with plans to see the band play in New York and Virginia later in the month.

Pete loved to get together with friends and he traveled to Massachusetts, Maine and Virginia in the past year to visit them. He was able to do that despite two recent cancer battles, each with significant surgery accompanied by chemotherapy and radiation. Pete showed courage and resolve in dealing with cancer, just as he had with earlier life challenges. He bravely shared his health milestones via Facebook, keeping friends and family up to date on his progress and sharing photos illustrating the toll of the disease.

Pete’s ability to get back to a regular life after being treated by skilled and humane medical professionals at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Health is a testament to his spirit. Even during the toughest times, he continued to share his wry sense of humor by regularly posting funny – and occasionally silly – memes, jokes and sayings on Facebook, giving friends and family welcome moments of lightness during challenging times.

In lieu of flowers, please make any donation in Pete’s memory to Closer to Free Fund for Smilow Cancer Hospital, YNHH Development, P.O. Box 1849, New Haven, CT 06508 (www.givetoynhh.org) or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142 (www.stjude.org; Pete’s Memorial ID: 23020319).

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, at 11 a.m. at Divine Mercy Parish, St. Rita Church, 1620 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Burial will follow at St. Bernard Cemetery, New Haven. Calling hours at Sisk Brothers Funeral Home, 3105 Whitney Ave., Hamden, will be held before the funeral Mass on Sept. 2 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

For more information and to leave online condolences, visit Sisk Brothers Funeral Home here.