The Family of Brendan Saunders

As many of you have heard already, Brendan Saunders died suddenly this past Saturday. In her posting announcing Brendan’s death, Mary Saunders, Brendan’s wife, said his passing this weekend brought her peace because Easter’s celebration of Christ’s resurrection “was his most favorite holiday.”

For those of you who hadn’t yet had the honor of meeting him, Brendan was, like all of you, a charismatic leader in his community and the state.

Sorry to resort to cliché, but in Brendan’s case it’s true: his personality, his laugh, and his smile filled a room; he was both succinct and eloquent in his words. He was, in a word, a gentleman.

Well suited to hospitality, Brendan was the director of sales and marketing for Waterford Hotel Group. He was also deeply involved in Connecticut politics. In 2020, he ran for the 33rd Senatorial District. Connecticut lost out when Brendan came up short in the final count.

Undeterred, Brendan raised his hand to serve as chair the Clinton Republican Town Committee and as part of the leadership of the Republican 33rd District Council .

Yet it was family and faith that grounded Brendan’s life. He leaves his wife, Mary, and daughter, Jordan. In one of his podcasts, he described Mary was “a great Godly woman” whom he had the keen wisdom to marry. Brendan received his ministry and theology degrees from Clarks Summit University and Capital Seminary. He was the founding pastor of Lighthouse Community Church in Westbrook. For nearly five years he hosted Fusion with Brendan Saunders a series of YouTube posts featuring short sermons that reached upward of 1,000 listeners. It's fitting that Brendan close this letter with this from his post titled Dan Orlavsky’s Prayer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey4tPHrN8y8&list=PLzNvhrNtL0QI-ZDbxDNh_4Y5gaBCJf-KE&index=24)”:

"Pray without ceasing when we look at our world that so hurt and so broken. There are those that scoff at the idea of prayer and that scoff at the sentiment of thoughts and prayers. Frankly, I don’t like that sentiment because all the thoughts in the world aren’t going to do anything. But I know that one prayer of one righteous man is effective according to the scriptures. When all we have is prayer, then that’s all that we need. And we all need to do it.”

This fund has been established by the friends and family of Brendan Saunders. Brendan passed away suddenly on Saturday April 8th. Please help us to raise funds to pay for his daughter Jorden's educational expenses.