By Bill Parry
Michael McCreesh is a huge man with an even bigger heart. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound lad from County Armagh, Ireland is known as Big Mickey and his grassroots charitable endeavors are known throughout the borough.
McCreesh moved to the United States at the age of 23 and went to work at his brother’s Duce Construction Company that specializes in high-end renovations. By 2008 he had enough savings to open Bar 43, a popular sports bar and restaurant at 43-06 43rd St. in Sunnyside.
Bar 43 stood out from the other pubs because McCreesh and his partner, Nick Murphy, made good deeds part of their restaurant’s business plan. They believed charitable endeavors can be good for community building and Bar 43 at the same time. “It always helps the business when you get more people involved, friendships are formed along the way and it results in more regular customers,” McCreesh said.
His theory was proven when Hurricane Sandy tore apart the Rockaways. McCreesh and several of his friends formed Sunnyside Cares and turned Bar 43 into a collection point for donations. They led countless convoys to the Rockaways over the next 11 weekends until they had to cut back, not simply because of exhaustion. “I finally had to take a break because Ann-Marie was going to divorce me,” McCreesh said.
His wife had given birth to their son, Michael, just three days before the storm. Ann-Marie was also caring for their 2-year-old daughter Saoirse all while preparing herself for nursing school.
That spring Rockaway remembered Big Mickey’s efforts by naming him deputy grand marshal of the Queens County St. Patrick’s Day Parade. “Mickey did such tremendous work for us when we were on our knees,” Michael Benn, the parade’s director, said. “He was down here every weekend after the storm and he got a better reception than any of the politicians, too.”
Back in Sunnyside, McCreesh helped form a neighborhood bar and restaurant association with the aim of fund-raising for local charities. They set up Sunnyside Boulevard Bars and several times a year they run pub crawls that raise money for food pantries, toys for tots, the local boys and girls club and even the neighborhood firehouse. “We started the organization knowing we could do some good in the community,” McCreesh said. “It’s easier to do good things with 10 bars rather than just one.”
This spring has brought a lot of change for the McCreesh family. They moved to Harlem, where Big Mickey took a job as a residential manager at The Tapestry, a luxury high-rise. “I am still very much a Queens guy, I still own my home and my bar in Queens. I’m just living there because it’s part of the job,” McCreesh said.
His parents made the trip from County Armagh several weeks ago to help the family move.
“I was sitting there one night just looking at my dad and I remembered how he went around the countryside delivering food to hungry people with no money,” McCreesh said. “That’s just the way I was brought by my dad, to always be looking out for the less fortunate. It’s a good way to live.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
