He Cooked the Best Ribs Ever

Tom Wright, founded Tom's Place restaurant

[Published on February 28, 2006]

Tom Wright loved barbecue.

Born in Georgia, he dedicated his life to sharing this love of Southern-style ribs with the world, or at least Palm Beach County, through his legendary restaurant, Tom's Place.

But his dedication may have helped cut his life short, his family said. Hours spent over a poorly ventilated barbecue pit in the restaurant's early days gave Mr. Wright, who did not smoke cigarettes, emphysema, daughter Cassandra Wright said. He died Friday at Boca Raton Community Hospital of complications from that disease and overall failing health.

Still, nothing would have lured her father away from that pit, she said.

"He liked cooking," Cassandra Wright said. "He would go to work sick and you wouldn't know it. He was so stubborn. His goal was he'd get three cooks on the line, and he'd get on the line by himself and produce more than those three cooks would."

He would still be here, sick as he was, if his wife, Helen, hadn't died. It happened two years ago, while Mr. Wright was recovering from a stroke. They were married 47 years. Even while living in the Dunbar Village public-housing complex in West Palm Beach, Helen Wright was known for a keen fashion sense honed at her job dressing the rich at a Worth Avenue boutique.

She had been in poor health. The children couldn't tell their father until months later, when his recovery had progressed enough that he was able to understand.

"When he found out, he had a broken heart," Cassandra Wright said. "He gave up."

The restaurant, opened in Boca Raton in 1977, had closed shortly before Mr. Wright's stroke and his wife's death. Cassandra and her five brothers and sisters decided to reopen it in West Palm Beach last year. They wanted to carry on the dream that had given their family so much.

The restaurant business took the Wright family from the housing projects to a comfortable suburban home. For dinner, the family ate restaurant-quality prime rib and shrimp scampi. Mr. and Mrs. Wright gave each of their children a car for their 16th birthdays.

"It might have been a used car, but it was a car," Cassandra Wright said. "We were the fortunate kids on the block."

Mr. Wright loved cars almost as much as he loved cooking. When he wasn't manning the restaurant, his friends could find him out at Moroso Motorsports Park racing his Camaro. They called him "Quick Draw."

Mr. Wright was a pastor who considered the world his church. He cooked for the homeless, helped down-on-their-luck restaurant patrons with electric bills, and gave money to churches. The phone at the restaurant has been ringing off the hook as news of his death spread.

"He's a well-known man," Cassandra Wright said. "I'm so honored to have a parent like that."

In addition to his daughter Cassandra, Mr. Wright is survived by children, George, Kimberly, Kenny and Tom Wright, and Belinda Johnson.

Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Royal Palm Funeral Home, 5601 Greenwood Ave., West Palm Beach. The funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Redemptive Life Fellowship Church, 2101 N. Australian Ave., West Palm Beach.

The restaurant, 1225 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., will close Saturday out of respect for its founder. Mr. Wright's family hasn't designated a charity; instead urging that mourners honor their father's memory by eating ribs.

"Keep the dream alive," Cassandra Wright said.

Copyright © 2005, The Palm Beach Post.