A sale of a home in Quogue for $4.5 million would attract our attention anyway, but as we like to say, sometimes the people behind the property are of equal or more interest.
First, the transaction. Anita and John Brennan are the new owners of 6 Ogden Lane in this west-of-the-canal community. The 7,000-square-foot Georgian home is on 1.2 acres close to the ocean. Highlights include a music room, a great room adjoining a Raffel chef’s kitchen, six bedrooms, and an attached jewel box of a mother-in-law apartment or private guest accommodations. Outside are manicured English gardens, a heated pool with electric cover, a hot tub and a shaded pool house. Bonus features are California Closets systems throughout the house, a water filtration system, and dehumidifier and humidifier air controllers throughout. There are hurricane-resistant windows, real plaster moldings and a composite slate roof with a 100-year guarantee. For extra comfort, there are heated bathroom floors and a sauna in the master bathroom shower.
Now about the purchasers, which is both a somber and inspiring story. They lost their son, Thomas M. Brennan, on 9/11. After earning an MBA at Boston University, he was working for Sandler O’Neill & Partners on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the terrorist attack occurred. Brennan and his pregnant wife had just moved into their first home, in Scarsdale. He left behind a 17-month-old daughter, and Thomas More Brennan Jr. was born six weeks after the attack. He also left behind four siblings and his parents.
Like many people who lost loved ones, Anita and John Brennan wanted to honor their son’s memory. To that end, they became the principal donors for the construction of the St. Thomas More Church on the campus of St. John’s University in Queens. It includes a hand-size cross of rusty World Trade Center steel as the centerpiece of a shrine dedicated to the victims of the tragedy on September 11, 2001. The elder Mr. Brennan had earned bachelor’s and law degrees at St. John’s and had named his middle child after the saint who defied Henry XIII and was the author of “Utopia.” More was portrayed in the play and film “A Man for All Seasons.”
St. John’s was particularly devastated by the terror attack, having lost 75 alumni on 9/11. Since its completion in 2004, the church has been a source of solace for the family members and friends of those who died that day.
27east on Mar 11, 2019