Jack Thornton RIP - Co-Founder of Mai-Kai - General Tiki

I ikitnrev Tiki Socialite D.C. / Virginia Joined: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1325	I ikitnrev Posted posted on Thu, Feb 28, 2008 7:33 AM Here is another nice obituary from the Sun-Sentinel....click on the below link to see the full on-line article and many pictures of Jack Thornton and the Mai Kai http://tinyurl.com/2bxvj8 The tiki torches at the Mai-Kai restaurant still burn bright, but the co-founder of the South Florida landmark will be laid to rest today, more than 50 years after he and his brother started a sensation by opening what became a Polynesian-style monument to exotic food, fruity rum drinks and all things island chic. Jack R. Thornton, considered by friends and family to be the creative force between the Oakland Park restaurant's over-the-top South Pacific theme, was 78. Family members said he died Feb. 22 of a stroke. Mr. Thornton managed to outlive many of his contemporaries despite a life devoted to the pleasures of food and wine and a brain aneurysm at 40 that doctors said would kill him. Instead, he underwent surgery, slowly re-learned basic daily functions, and spent some of his remaining decades traveling the world. Daughter Tammy Arena, 46, of Fort Lauderdale, recalled the first months her father fought to regain his life and memory. She was 8 years old, sitting at a table doing schoolwork as he sat next to her with a yellow legal pad, reteaching himself arithmetic. "He said, 'Oh, we're kind of in the same class. You're doing your math and I'm doing mine,'" she remembered. "His strength of character, his determination, his ability to continue when things were difficult was just amazing." Most people, however, will remember Mr. Thornton for his success with the Mai-Kai. Mr. Thornton and his brother, Bob, were in their 20s when they opened the restaurant at 3599 N. Federal Highway in December 1956. The location now sits along a noisy, traffic-clogged artery, just north and across the street from a Target-anchored shopping center. But at the time it was on a two-lane road with no other development or street lights. Ex-wife Diane Thornton described the novelty of driving up to the restaurant upon her first visit. It looked like a torch-lit island in the dark. "If there was no moon, you felt like you were in black hole. Then you saw a light ahead," she said. "It got brighter and brighter and — remember in those days there was no Disney World, no theme parks — you were suddenly in these lush exotic gardens and there were rushing waterfalls and sumptuous dishes that only world travelers had ever tasted." The inspiration for the Mai-Kai came from the brothers' favorite restaurant, Don the Beachcomber, an island-style eatery they visited with their father during their childhood in Chicago. Their mother put up everything she owned to secure the loans to help her sons open the restaurant. It became a runaway hit. Brother Bob Thornton was the business-minded partner who ran daily operations, said former Mai-Kai marketing director Leonce Picot, while Jack Thornton obsessed over the conceptual details. According to Picot, it was Jack who placed nearly every plant in the restaurant's tropical gardens. He built the signature waterfall, tore it down because it wasn't perfect and had it rebuilt. He insisted on a drink menu with more than 50 fruit-and-alcohol-laced concoctions, each with its own distinct glass. He traveled through Europe, searching for the best wines and chefs. He commissioned a bar made of surfboards, and when it got too small, directed the construction of a larger one, doing it all from images in his head. Through it all, Jack Thornton earned the nickname "Mr. Intense," which was occasionally shortened to "Mr. Tense," for his passion for the smallest details. Today, the Mai-Kai may appear the height of kitsch, even a shadow of its former self. But in its heyday, Picot said, it was the most swinging joint in town, one of the top-grossing restaurants in the United States and the largest consumer of rum in Florida. "The reason why it's lasted 50 years is because the original concept and design was done so well and so right," said Picot, who went on to run three of his own successful restaurants in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton. Diane Thornton said her ex-husband's intensity, constant travel and restless spirit ended their marriage, but not their friendship. The couple had two children — daughter Tammy and son Ty, who is 45 and lives in Fort Lauderdale. Soon after the couple divorced, Mr. Thornton suffered his aneurysm, keeping him in South Florida for longer stretches of time and bringing the former couple closer. "The way I was raised, you're family, and that's it," Diane Thornton said. "It wasn't even a thought that you'd abandon somebody." After his aneurysm in 1969, doctors said Mr. Thornton shouldn't work, so he sold his stake in the restaurant, which is now run by his brother's wife and children, Diane Thornton said. He lived with his brother, concentrated on getting well, and once he did, resumed enjoying the "finer things in life" and traveling, often with Diane and the kids. In the end, he outlived his brother and never lost his appetite for food and life. "Jack was a natural explorer and adventurer. He was a bon vivant," she said. Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. today at Unity Church of Fort Lauderdale, 1800 NE Sixth Court. A private family interment service will be at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale. In addition to his ex-wife and his two children, Mr. Thornton is survived by a son-in-law, John Arena.

Here is another nice obituary from the Sun-Sentinel....click on the below link to see the full on-line article and many pictures of Jack Thornton and the Mai Kai

http://tinyurl.com/2bxvj8

The tiki torches at the Mai-Kai restaurant still burn bright, but the co-founder of the South Florida landmark will be laid to rest today, more than 50 years after he and his brother started a sensation by opening what became a Polynesian-style monument to exotic food, fruity rum drinks and all things island chic.

Jack R. Thornton, considered by friends and family to be the creative force between the Oakland Park restaurant's over-the-top South Pacific theme, was 78. Family members said he died Feb. 22 of a stroke.

Mr. Thornton managed to outlive many of his contemporaries despite a life devoted to the pleasures of food and wine and a brain aneurysm at 40 that doctors said would kill him. Instead, he underwent surgery, slowly re-learned basic daily functions, and spent some of his remaining decades traveling the world.

Daughter Tammy Arena, 46, of Fort Lauderdale, recalled the first months her father fought to regain his life and memory. She was 8 years old, sitting at a table doing schoolwork as he sat next to her with a yellow legal pad, reteaching himself arithmetic.

"He said, 'Oh, we're kind of in the same class. You're doing your math and I'm doing mine,'" she remembered. "His strength of character, his determination, his ability to continue when things were difficult was just amazing."

Most people, however, will remember Mr. Thornton for his success with the Mai-Kai.
Mr. Thornton and his brother, Bob, were in their 20s when they opened the restaurant at 3599 N. Federal Highway in December 1956.

The location now sits along a noisy, traffic-clogged artery, just north and across the street from a Target-anchored shopping center. But at the time it was on a two-lane road with no other development or street lights.

Ex-wife Diane Thornton described the novelty of driving up to the restaurant upon her first visit. It looked like a torch-lit island in the dark. "If there was no moon, you felt like you were in black hole. Then you saw a light ahead," she said. "It got brighter and brighter and — remember in those days there was no Disney World, no theme parks — you were suddenly in these lush exotic gardens and there were rushing waterfalls and sumptuous dishes that only world travelers had ever tasted."

The inspiration for the Mai-Kai came from the brothers' favorite restaurant, Don the Beachcomber, an island-style eatery they visited with their father during their childhood in Chicago. Their mother put up everything she owned to secure the loans to help her sons open the restaurant. It became a runaway hit.

Brother Bob Thornton was the business-minded partner who ran daily operations, said former Mai-Kai marketing director Leonce Picot, while Jack Thornton obsessed over the conceptual details.

According to Picot, it was Jack who placed nearly every plant in the restaurant's tropical gardens. He built the signature waterfall, tore it down because it wasn't perfect and had it rebuilt. He insisted on a drink menu with more than 50 fruit-and-alcohol-laced concoctions, each with its own distinct glass.

He traveled through Europe, searching for the best wines and chefs. He commissioned a bar made of surfboards, and when it got too small, directed the construction of a larger one, doing it all from images in his head. Through it all, Jack Thornton earned the nickname "Mr. Intense," which was occasionally shortened to "Mr. Tense," for his passion for the smallest details.

Today, the Mai-Kai may appear the height of kitsch, even a shadow of its former self. But in its heyday, Picot said, it was the most swinging joint in town, one of the top-grossing restaurants in the United States and the largest consumer of rum in Florida. "The reason why it's lasted 50 years is because the original concept and design was done so well and so right," said Picot, who went on to run three of his own successful restaurants in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton.

Diane Thornton said her ex-husband's intensity, constant travel and restless spirit ended their marriage, but not their friendship. The couple had two children — daughter Tammy and son Ty, who is 45 and lives in Fort Lauderdale.

Soon after the couple divorced, Mr. Thornton suffered his aneurysm, keeping him in South Florida for longer stretches of time and bringing the former couple closer. "The way I was raised, you're family, and that's it," Diane Thornton said. "It wasn't even a thought that you'd abandon somebody."

After his aneurysm in 1969, doctors said Mr. Thornton shouldn't work, so he sold his stake in the restaurant, which is now run by his brother's wife and children, Diane Thornton said. He lived with his brother, concentrated on getting well, and once he did, resumed enjoying the "finer things in life" and traveling, often with Diane and the kids.

In the end, he outlived his brother and never lost his appetite for food and life.
"Jack was a natural explorer and adventurer. He was a bon vivant," she said.

Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. today at Unity Church of Fort Lauderdale, 1800 NE Sixth Court. A private family interment service will be at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in North Lauderdale. In addition to his ex-wife and his two children, Mr. Thornton is survived by a son-in-law, John Arena.

Post #363975 by ikitnrev on Thu, Feb 28, 2008 7:33 AM