Bikini Bar Founder Falls 5 Stories To His Death In Tribeca

Stuart Robert Smith, Via Bikini Bar's website

Founder of the Tribeca watering-hole boutique Bikini Bar fell to his death from the fifth floor of the business's location at 148 Duane Street last night. 48-year-old Stuart Robert Smith was found by a passerby and declared dead at the scene from what appears to be an accident. According to the shop's website, Smith was a former Navy diver who surveyed sunken ships from World War II and the idea for Bikini Bar arose from his love of the ocean. Smith's wife, fashion designer Aileen Oser, tells the Post that her husband liked going to a garden on the roof to "look at the sky."

The couple met on a flight to New York City, were married at the Statue of Liberty, and opened Bikini Bar in 1997. "We were soulmates," Oser said, "I don't know what I'm going to do without him." According to DNAinfo the Medical Examiner will determine Smith's cause of death.

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By Christopher Robbins in Food on July 11, 2011 2:59 PM

Comments [rss]

JKS16

Stuart and Aileen were great people. Friendly, full of life and amazing to talk to. This is a real tragedy. My heart goes out to Aileen and their families.

ErstwhilePixie52

That is really tragic. They were such nice people, very friendly and sweet. I rented props from them for a commercial and visited their shop/loft a few times. Later, they came up to visit me on the set.

I'll share a nice memory: they had 2 really large birds, one was a parrot and the other was cockatoo. One of the birds got into something he wasn't supposed to and Stuart said, "hey, you aren't pecking that are you?" and the bird answered, "I'm sorry!" Just like a person :)

My heart goes out to Aileen, and the friends and family of the Smiths/Osers.