A celebration of life has been scheduled for longtime Port Aransas resident Jay Kenigsberg, a successful restaurateur and former city councilman who died today (Monday, June 8) at the age of 84.
The service will be at Trinity-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 13. The public is invited. A reception will follow in the next-door parish hall.
Kenigsberg died of renal failure at Methodist Hospital Stone Oak in San Antonio, his family said.
Kenigsberg is perhaps best known as the founder of Jay’s Seafood and Spaghetti Works, which he and his wife, Stephanie, operated for decades at the corner of Alister Street and Avenue G.
The Kenigsbergs sold the land to the CVS pharmacy chain and moved the restaurant into a new building about 500 feet south in 2013. The new structure featured a dome-like shape that mimicked the design of the original restaurant building.
The couple sold the restaurant to restaurateur Tommy Bonner in 2022.
(Watch for a full profile of Kenigsberg in the June 11 edition of the South Jetty.)