Omar Jennings Jr., patriarch of the Catonsville family that has run Jennings Cafe on Frederick Road since the late 1950s, died of lung disease on July 28 at St. Elizabeth's Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 79.

Jennings' father, Omar Jennings, bought what had been known as Shooky's Tavern -- and renamed it Jennings Cafe in 1958.

Jennings took over a few years later, tending bar and doing any job that needed to be done, said his son, Omar Jennings III, who took over the restaurant in 1980.

"Back then, you had to do what you had to do, because it wasn't established yet and you had to watch your payrolls," his son said. "So he did a lot of stuff to get the business off the ground."

His wife of 50 years, the former Wanda Wenskaitis, his son and two daughters, Gretta and Michele, also worked at the restaurant.

Jennings remained a regular presence in the restaurant and bar until his health began failing about a year ago, his son said.

"He was the man at the bar. He was the guy who always sat down at the end and greeted people coming in and leaving," his son said. "He had a lot of friends who would come in."

Raised in Hampden, Jennings worked for his father most of his young life, first at his father's Hampden grocery store then at the Pimlico Hotel, which his father ran before buying Shooky's.

Jennings attended McDonogh School and Mount St. Joseph High School before graduating from Catonsville High School, where he played baseball.

Jennings was never a "bad" kid, but his attending three different high schools -- he was asked to leave the first two -- was a testament to his strong character and his (frowned upon) smoking habit, his son said with a laugh.

"He was a great guy, but he had his own ways about him. If he thought he was right about something, he wasn't giving in," his son said. "He had an opinion. He wasn't easily swayed."

His granddaughter, Lacey Jennings, said he was "definitely one of a kind."

Jennings' son remembers going to the restaurant's bar with his buddies when he was in his early 20s and his father joking around with them.

Many of those friends, even some the younger Jennings hadn't seen in years, attended his father's wake, he said.

"He touched a lot of people, even my friends," he said.

Don Mohler, a spokesman for Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and a longtime Catonsville resident, said the "outpouring of affection Catonsville has for Omar and his family" was shown at the weekend viewings.

"I think he'll certainly be missed by his family, but he'll be missed by the broader Catonsville community as well," Mohler said.

"If there's a 'Cheers' in Catonsville and Arbutus, it's clearly Jennings, and for years and years, it's been that way," Mohler said.

Although Jennings ran a restaurant for most of his adult life, he wasn't a "big eater," his son said.

"He would always say, 'Some people live to eat, and some people eat to live. I eat because it helps me live.'"

Still, "he would always eat our staples, our crab cakes and burgers," his son said.

Jennings' death means "another passing of the old guard in Catonsville," said Tom Medicus, whose family has owned the Hilton Flower Shop down the street from Jennings' cafe for about 80 years.

"It's a shame to see someone pass on who was really a part of Catonsville for as long as I can remember, and I've been here 59 years," Medicus said.

"I can remember going in and seeing Omar in the bar, and people talking to him about horse racing," he said.

Jennings' late brother, Lawrence Jennings, was a horse trainer who worked the racing circuit up and down the East Coast, Jennings' son said.

The family restaurant on Frederick Road is decorated with racing photographs.

Lawrence Jennings was a "sort of father figure" to Jennings, who was 12 years his junior, and Jennings "almost liked being around the horses more than the restaurant," his son said.

Until last year, Jennings "never missed a day" in the restaurant, his son said.

Mohler said he will definitely be missed by the restaurant's regulars.

"It's not going to feel the same, quite honestly, when you walk in and Omar's not sitting at the end of the bar," Mohler said. "But I think that we all take heart that the family tradition will continue."

Funeral services were held Monday at Sterling Ashton Schwab Witzke Funeral Home.

Jennings is survived by his wife; son and daughter-in-law Janice; daughter, Gretta Watson, and her husband, Brian; daughter, Michele Murrman, and her husband, John; and seven grandchildren, Omar IV, Lacey, Heather, Kyle, John, Steven and Michael.

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