rsilk@keysnews.com
ISLAMORADA -- "Trapper" John Petersen, perhaps the best known bartender in a town famous for its watering holes, died Sunday after a short battle with aggressive thyroid cancer. He was 72.
Friends and longtime patrons of Rum Runners bar at Holiday Isle, where Petersen worked from 1992 until his retirement two years ago, remembered him last week as a generous, funny and decent man.
"Yes it is true that we all lost a dear friend, legend, a smile that was infectious and contagious. Trapper John I (we) celebrate you," restaurateur Mike Forster, a customer, one-time competitor and longtime friend, wrote on a Facebook tribute page Sunday.
Larz Tatro, who worked alongside Petersen at Rum Runners from 1992 until 2007 and now manages the Ocean View Pub just across the highway in Windley Key, described Petersen as a bartender's bartender, who made people feel welcome with his soft touch and sharp memory.
He drew part-time Upper Keys residents back to Rum Runners year after year, Tatro said, "because they knew Trapper would be there and he'd have a smile and a joke and remember their drinks. He was a decent human being loved by all."
Petersen was born in Milwaukee, Wis. in 1939. He spent the first half of his career as a salesman in the Milwaukee record industry. He also tended bar and, for a while, delved into bar ownership.
Petersen move to the Upper Keys in 1980 where he took work at the World Famous Tiki Bar at Holiday Isle. He remained at the Tiki Bar for a dozen years as Holiday Isle, led by charismatic managing partner Joe Roth, emerged from bankruptcy and developed into a go-to party resort for revelers from throughout South Florida.
In 1992, when Roth decided to build a new bar on the north edge of the Holiday Isle beach, he tapped Petersen for the job. Petersen ran Rum Runners for the next 17 years, including a two-year rebuilding stint from 1999 to 2001 after the bar was destroyed by a fire.
Petersen was a boater in his spare time and Tatro said that Petersen's boat, which the bartender dubbed "Absolutely No Docking," provides entrée into his easy manner with people.
Petersen often docked the boat in areas marked as off-limits.
"Everyone would come running and telling him he couldn't stay there," Tatro said. "And he'd say, 'Look at my boat.' And nine out of 10 times they'd let us stay there just because they saw the humor in it."
In July, Petersen traveled to Key West for the Hemingway Days festival and its centerpiece event, the Hemingway look-alike contest that he won in 1994. While there he began suffering from a sore throat, according to Tatro.
It turned out to be the first symptom of the thyroid cancer that would take his life. As the disease quickly grew debilitating, friends scheduled a benefit at Holiday Isle for this Friday, Nov. 4, which they hoped Petersen would be able to attend.
The benefit has now been named, "Tribute to Trapper," and it will go on as scheduled.
The event, to begin at Rum Runners Beach at 5 p.m., will feature musical entertainment, food, auction items and raffles. Funds that are raised will go toward defraying costs for Petersen's family, said Tatro, who is the organizer.
Petersen is survived by a daughter, Tammy Leiner, and his longtime partner, Rene Barile.
