Right up to the day of his death in 1958, Patrick F. Cusick, shown here, was the president of Cusick Inc. Funeral Directors, a business he and his brothers inherited from their immigrant father. In the meantime Cusick, assisted by family members, was building a business empire in Scranton, Pennsylvania, largely financed by sales of alcohol.
His father, Owen Cusick, was born in Ireland and came to Scranton with his parents as a boy. After receiving an elementary education in local schools, he went to work on the Lackawanna Railroad. Saving his money, Owen began a livery business that expanded into an undertaking establishment at 217 Jefferson Street, shown here as it looks today, still bearing the Cusick name. It was there that Patrick, born in 1881, went to work at the age of thirteen.
Despite only having little more than an elementary education Patrick Cusick proved to have astute business judgment with the ability to make “a success of virtually every enterprise he undertook,” according to his obituary. One of his earliest forays was into the wholesale liquor business, establishing a company he called the Scranton Distributing Company. As shown on the letterhead above, Patrick was president and treasurer and his brother, Eugene, shown right, was secretary.
Cusick called his establishment “Scranton’s Progressive Wholesale Liquor House” and claimed to have sales representatives covering Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Saloons, hotels and restaurants formed his customer base. They would have been provided with whiskey in ceramic jugs varying in size from a half gallon to one or two gallons. These were made for Cusick by pottery works in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
At the same time Cusick was engaged in “rectifying” whiskey, that is buying raw product from some of the many Pennsylvania distilleries and blending it on his premises at 504 Lackawanna Avenue. His proprietary brands were "Anthony Wayne Pure Rye,” "Big Six Straight Whiskey,” "Diamond Wedding,” "Tower Bridge Gin,” and his flagship label, “Chums Whiskey.”
Chums Whiskey was described by Cusick as “a perfect blend of ripe old whiskies. Makes the best sort of base for cocktails and other mixed drinks. Mild and Mellow. Because of its infinite purity, Chums is excellent for medicinal purposes.” The name was advertised on the serving tray that featured a gent in a tuxedo drinking a large glass of whiskey while his “chum,” a large dog looked on, thirsting.
Cusick also issued shot glasses advertising the brand but apparently found difficulty finding glassworks able reproduce the scene accurately. On the glass left the dog looks like the cowardly lion in Wizard of Oz. On the right the pooch appears about to attack his “chum” to get a sip of booze.
While Cusick was developing his liquor trade he also was founding and operating one of Scranton’s twenty breweries, called Standard Brewing Company. With Patrick directing its operation the growth of the brewery was swift, becoming the largest producer of beer in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Two of his pre-Prohibition brands were “Standard Export” and “Cardinal Beer, as show below on advertising serving trays. Recognizing his ability, Cusick was elected president of the Pennsylvania Brewers Association for fourteen consecutive years and served as its principal lobbyist at the state capital.
By 1909 the profits from his liquor house and brewery were so lucrative that Cusick founded and served as president of the First National Bank of Jessup, a borough in Lackawanna County. Like other of the undertaker’s enterprises, it was a success, printing $1,282,110 dollars worth of national currency. The bank opened in 1909 and stopped issuing bills in 1935.
During these years, Patrick remained a bachelor, buying a mansion home at 1048 Clay Avenue in Scranton, where he was surrounded by family members. They included his younger brother, Bartholomew, working in the Cusick Funeral Home; his sister, Elizabeth; her attorney husband, James Bell; their four children, and a servant woman. Cusick also maintained an active social life as a member of the Scranton Knights of Columbus, the Scranton Country Club, Elks, Eagles, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.
With the coming of National Prohibition in 1920, Cusick was forced to shut down his wholesale liquor house and brewery. The Scranton entrepreneur and banker then made a foray into New York City, buying a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, reportedly “at one of the highest prices ever paid.” He launched himself into the brokerage business in Gotham as P.F. Cusick & Co. Investment Brokers. Not long before the stock market crash of 1929 he also opened a large Scranton office.
While the Great Depression apparently moved Cusick out of the world of stocks and bonds, the end of National Prohibition offered an opportunity in 1933 for him to restart the Scranton Brewing Company. As chairman of the board and treasurer, he watched as the company’s beer rapidly regained favor among the drinking public of the region. Although whiskey sales also had become legal, Cusick made no move to resurrect his liquor house.
The period also was one of change in his personal life. At the age of 56, Patrick took the plunge and was married. His bride was Grace L. Golden, a Scranton woman who was the daughter of Patrick and Mart O’Hara Golden, A decade younger than Patrick, Grace also was in her first marriage. Census records suggest she may have been Cusick’s secretary. A passport photo of the couple is shown here.
During World War II Cusick continued to distinguish himself, leading campaigns to assist the war effort, including spearheading a can collecting drive. He was selected to head Scranton’s government-sponsored “food saving” campaign.
The end of the war and the advent of the atomic bomb plunged the 65-year-old Cusick into developing Canadian uranium resources. Keeping his headquarter in Scranton and continuing to be president of the funeral parlor, Cusick spent much of his time during those years working in the mining sector of Canada, an enterprise he maintained until his death.
As he aged, Patrick was increasingly troubled with heart problems and was admitted to Scranton’s Mercy Hospital in September 1958, After lingering there for several weeks, on November 8 he died at the age of 77. In death Patrick came home to the place where he had begun his career — the Cusick Funeral Home at 217 Jefferson Street. There the longtime president of the undertaking establishment was accorded a special ceremony by the Lackawanna County Funeral Directors Association. After a requiem Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Patrick Cusick was buried in St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Moscow, Pennsylvania.
Note: The primary source for this post was the lengthy (unsigned) obituary of Cusick that appeared in the Scranton Tribune on November 10, 1958. That source was supplemented by material from ancestry.com.
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