As closure looms, LeRoy aims for name rights


Tavern on the Green, which is slated to close Dec. 31, and Jennifer LeRoy

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Eight years after taking the reins at Tavern on the Green, Jennifer LeRoy is bidding farewell to the famed restaurant once operated by her father. The heiress to a once-burgeoning restaurant empire, LeRoy was put in control by her father when she was just 22. Now, after losing a bid to renew her family’s lease at the landmark Central Park restaurant, a Crain’s profile describes LeRoy as angry over “the city’s rejection of her family.” Currently locked in a battle over the rights to the name “Tavern on the Green,” those close to LeRoy say she’s taking the latest legal turmoil — and closure of the restaurant — hard. “Her mind frame is fragile,” Michael Desiderio, COO of the restaurant, said. “Tavern’s closing is heartbreaking for the LeRoy family.”