If Ty Kennedy wore a tailored suit, it probably came from Brooks Brothers, his employer for 30 years.
He followed the career path of his late father, who in the 1960s opened the first Brooks Brothers store in Atlanta. Right after college, the son went to work in sales for the high-end clothier.
"He was a lot like my dad and I was a lot like my mom," said Kipp Kennedy, a brother from San Francisco. "He liked dealing with quality people and selling a quality product."
Five years ago, Cole Christopher "Ty" Kennedy was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which he died from Saturday at his home in Roswell. He was 51. A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Northside Chapel Funeral Directors and Crematory in Roswell.
Mr. Kennedy was born in Hartford, Conn., to Robert T. and Dorothy Callahan Kennedy. His father was a traveling salesman and branch manager for Brooks Brothers, and often peddled the retailer's wares to stores in Atlanta.
Robert Kennedy would return to New York, he and tell management that Atlanta was a bustling city, and when Brooks Brothers opened a store in the city in the late 1960s, he was asked to manage it. He also opened a store in Seattle in a career that spanned nearly 25 years.
Ty Kennedy attended St. Pius High School, graduated from a school in Seattle and earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Georgia Southern University. When he returned from Statesboro to Atlanta, he worked as a floor salesman for the Brooks Brothers' downtown store. He also worked at the retailer's Lenox Square Mall locale.
"One great thing is that he would have customers who had been my dad's customers," his brother said. "He was a guy on the floor the majority of his career, but five or six years ago he would travel around and train people how to sell custom clothing, as opposed to items bought off the racks."
Mr. Kennedy enjoyed Formula 1 auto racing and collected Italian sports cars. He owned two Alpha Romeos. He attended the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix with close friend Mike Granfield, a college friend who lives in Washington.
"We got a pit tour of the Renault race team, which very few people get to do, so it was a special, amazing once-in-a-lifetime trip," Mr. Granfield said. "On his Facebook page, he has a picture of us standing in the grandstands."
And as one would imagine, Mr. Kennedy was an impeccable dresser. Well-tailored suits were his forte.
"We used to joke that Ty didn't have clothes, he had costumes," his brother said. "He had things like brown corduroy pants with pheasants embroidered in them. He was always impeccably dressed."
Additional survivors include his wife of 20 years, Leslie Scott Kennedy, and their children, Lauren Elizabeth Kennedy and Duncan Christopher Kennedy.
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