Pooch
Longtime bartender & community activist

Pooch. Photo by JR Davis.

By John Hayden

Pooch, a lifelong South Florida bartender, died in April.  
 
He was a fixture behind the bars for 40 years at some of Greater Fort Lauderdale’s legacy establishments including Sea Monster and End Up, which eventually became Elements and is now Scandals.

Pooch’s death comes just six months after the loss of his husband, Don Clark, a fellow bartender. 

His friend Toni Barone told the South Florida Gay News they were so close, they shared a destination wedding. Barone and her wife went with Pooch and Don on a trip to Washington, D.C. and got married in a double ceremony.

“He was like a brother to me for 44 years,” she said. “He was all around fun.”

Another longtime friend, Howard Marr, shared this on social media. 

“Pooch was one of the founding members of our bartending community in this town, and a true force to be reckoned with,” he wrote. “He, and his husband Don were an amazing couple. A true legacy couple. Pooch passing, puts another nail in the history of the gay rights movement, as he was there from the beginning.”

This is an excerpt from a story that ran in South Florida Gay News. Reprinted with permission from John Hayden.