His death came 32 years to the day that Cheers ended its 11-year run on NBC. The cast traveled to Boston on May 20, 1993 to celebrate the end of Cheers, whose theme song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” captured the comfort of a neighborhood bar.
So it was fitting that on an uncommonly cold May night fans went to the former Bull & Finch pub on Beacon Street to remember Wendt.
“As soon as we heard the news, we had to be here,” said Tim Lashombe, 59, of Fort Worth, Texas. He and his wife were in town celebrating his birthday when they learned of Wendt’s passing online and rushed to the bar.
Over beers, the couple traded favorite Norm one-liners. “Like, when he would walk in and say, cut me off at one,” Lashombe recalled. “And [the bartender] says, you sure? At one? He goes, no, make it 1:30!” He laughed, lifting his mug. “I mean, he was phenomenal. Cheers to Norm. Cheers to Norm.”
Wendt died early Tuesday morning at home in New York, his family said. “George was a doting family man, a well-loved friend and confidant to all of those lucky enough to have known him,” the family said. “He will be missed forever.”
Lesley Brooks, 55, who lives in Boston but is originally from Ireland, said Norm and “Cheers” did more than earn laughs; they captured the spirit of a generation. “I mean, if you look around here—and there’s nobody young in here tonight,” she laughed, “Just, everybody understands what it was.”
She stopped into the bar three times Tuesday night “just to see what the vibe was like later on.” With each visit, she ran into other fans—from around the U.S. and even, like herself, from across the Atlantic—swapping memories of watching the show as teenagers.
“For a certain age group, it’s the closing of a chapter,” Brooks said of Wendt’s death. “It’s the end of an era. There will never be a show like it.”
Like other classic TV shows, Cheers has gained newer, younger fans through streaming on Netflix and other online subscription services.
And few younger fans did turn up to pay tribute to Wendt.
Fabiana Fonseca, 28, visiting from California on a work trip, said hearing of Wendt’s death felt “unexpected.”
“It was almost beautiful, because I’m in Boston and I have a chance to actually have a memorial for him—which you don’t usually get with your favorite stars,” she said.
Sean Foley, 48, of Somerville, had a more link to the bar and its star turn. His mother used to drink at the Bull & Finch before the show aired. Years later, Foley moved to Chicago for college and joined a local comedy troupe, the Compass Players, that Wendt had also performed in.
“To be able to come here, so many years later, to the bar where my mother used to drink at, that was made famous by a guy who got his start in the group where I used to perform—it’s a delight,” Foley said.
“When I heard he died… I had come and raise a glass in his honor.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Rita Chandler can be reached at rita.chandler@globe.com.
