A previous co-owner of Smoky’s Club and six other Madison-area restaurants and bars, Larry Schmock died Jan. 20 at age 68, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Schmock had dementia and passed away from pneumonia after dealing with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder.
Schmock’s parents, Leonard “Smoky” and Janet Schmock, opened Smoky’s when he was young; he began working there when he was 10 and bartending at 17 before taking over the business with his brother, Tom.
Schmock also co-owned the Blue Moon Bar and Grill on University Avenue, the Blue Velvet Lounge on West Gilman Street, the former State Bar and Grill on State Street, Good Times Neighborhood Bar on Stoughton Road — now the Sundown Saloon, the former Sunset Grill in DeForest, and Roadhouse 51 in Portage.
Schmock’s two sons, Matt and Tim Schmock, recently opened Driftless Social, a restaurant in Mount Horeb.
