The Irish legacy of Shaun Brady: A true KC friend

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Shaun Brady was many things to many people. He was a father and a husband, but to most, he was a friend.

He was widely known at Kansas City’s Irish Fest, especially for his culinary talents.

Erin Gabert is on the board of directors for Irish Fest, and she said Brady was always planning new ideas to bring to the community. One of them was the Irish Breakfast on Sunday morning he began back in 2017.

It would have taken place this Sunday after Catholic mass, but the board decided to postpone it this year. In its place, they will be having a toast to Brady. They are asking everyone who was friends with him to attend.

“He had this incredible ability to use his culinary talents and skills to really make people feel welcome and have an experience that was really special – that’s something that is going to be really greatly missed,” Gabert said. “It wasn’t about profiting. It was really about community and community .

Dr. Kieran Pemberton also lives in Kansas City but is a native of Ireland, like Brady. He said that breakfast included items that he missed from back home like Irish bacon, Irish sausages, black pudding and white pudding.

“I think we had up to maybe 400 people to try the breakfast (last year),” Dr. Pemberton said. “He refused to take any profit out of it. That’s Shaun, through and through that was Shaun – to share the culture of Ireland that he brought with him, especially with the cooking.”

That goal to share his Irish culture was also on display at Brady and Fox, too.

“He was genuinely pleased to see anybody who walked into his establishment. He would come over and thank you for coming in, but the next thing, he’d be sitting down with you and having a story or a whiskey, he’d always bring over a whiskey,” Dr. Pemberton said. “My wife said something this morning, they’ve got a new chef up top, so hopefully he’s cooking some good Irish food for the folks up above us.”

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