Dennis Stanczak, owner of famed Arlington sports bar Bobby V’s, has died
Dennis Stanczak, owner of Bobby V’s Sports Gallery Cafe in Arlington, died Wednesday, according to a tweet from the restaurant’s Twitter page.
“We are all family at Bobby V’s and we ask that you please keep his family in your prayers during this difficult time,” the restaurant tweeted.
The restaurant will be closed Thursday and is expected to reopen Friday.
“Please take care and always remember to tell those special people in your life that you love them,” the restaurant tweeted.
Reagan Wade Stanczak, his son, said in a comment on the restaurant’s Facebook announcement that his dad loved the restaurant and all of its customers.
“It was always my father’s dream to own a bar like Cheers where ‘everyone knows your name,’“ Reagan Stanczak wrote. “You all helped him achieve his dream. God bless you all. Thank you for being my daddy’s friend.”
Max Justice, a former employee of Dennis Stanczak who said Stanczak became his friend of more than a decade while they worked together, said the man had a gruff exterior from his time in the military, but he cared about people and showed it.
He recalled one time when a regular, Dave, died after he left Bobby V’s, and Stanczak surprised Justice at the funeral with how eloquently he shared memories of Dave.
“We didn’t realize he was paying attention [to Dave] and he had been the whole time,” Justice said.
He said the stool where Dave would seat each night he came into the bar is still there, even after all the other stools were replaced in a remodel a few years back, and a plaque at the bartop commemorates it as his spot in the restaurant.
A part of that, Justice said, is because Stanczak always wanted to own the bar from Cheers.
“Dennis was an amazing, caring person who went out of his way to do what he thought was right,” Justice said. “His dream was he wanted to own Cheers, and he passed having realized it.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 7:37 PM.