Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Albert Fant SISSON
Albert F. Sisson, a founder of a popular Cross Street brew pub, died of heart failure Friday at the Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Glen Arm resident was 81.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Goodwood Gardens, he left McDonogh School, where he played lacrosse and wrestled, and joined the Navy at age 18 during World War II. After the war, he returned to McDonogh and graduated in 1947. He then attended Loyola College where he also played lacrosse.
A business entrepreneur, he owned and operated a rug cleaning business and later had a stainless steel fabricating firm in Locust Point.
Mr. Sisson received one the city's dollar houses in the Otterbein homesteading area in the 1970s. He and his wife became advocates of downtown living after they renovated a dilapidated South Hanover Street home.
Family members said that after moving to Otterbein, he recognized the business potential of the gentrifying South Baltimore-Federal Hill neighborhood.
He bought the former Sticky Fingers bar on East Cross Street in 1978. Working with a nephew, he gutted and renovated the former taproom and christened it Sisson's Restaurant and Pub.
"I always thought he had an ulterior motive - he wanted to get me and my cousin to learn a business," said his son, Hugh Sisson, the owner of Clipper City Brewing in Halethorpe. "The day he got the place ready, he threw me the keys and said, 'Don't foul up.' "
Several years later, Mr. Sisson and his son visited pubs in England, Scotland and Ireland. They decided to create a brew pub - where beer is brewed on the premises - but it was not permitted in Maryland.
He and his family, with help from Sen. George Della, went before the General Assembly to change a state law to make brew pubs legal.
"We thought the bill would not pass," his son said. "When it did, we had to work fast to make sure we were the first brew pub in Maryland."
Hugh Sisson said his father preferred quality over quantity when having a beer. He said he helped establish Sisson's clientele by greeting customers and working the front door.
"My father had a marvelous sense of humor and was a master of telling a joke," his son said. "He would hold court on Friday afternoons at happy hour."
As the brew pub caught on, the family expanded the business to adjoining properties. They sold the business nearly a decade ago.
Mr. Sisson was a travel enthusiast and made several trips to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and China.
Plans for a memorial service are incomplete.
In addition to his son, survivors include his wife of 37 years, the former Anne Hamill; two other sons, Christopher Sisson of Baltimore and Mercer Sisson of Lansdale, Pa.; two stepsons, John Callanan of Baltimore and Thomas Wells of Washington, D.C.; a stepdaughter, Joanne Greenbaum of Shippensburg, Pa.; a sister, Elizabeth S. Bosley of Columbus, Ohio; and eight grandchildren. His marriage to Elizabeth Esher ended in divorce.
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