Jonathan Winfield Smith

He graduated from Brewster Elementary School and Nauset Regional High School. During high school he served as first mate on The Bluefin out of Rock Harbor in Orleans where he found his love of the ocean. This led him to the University of Miami where he majored in Marine Biology. After leaving college, he got his Captain’s license and ran charters out of Sesuit Harbor in Dennis and pursued other forms of commercial fishing, including building a fish weir and raising oysters.

As well as the ocean, he also loved woodworking, building kitchen cabinets, custom furniture, as well as building and renovating several properties here and in NH. He could fix almost anything.

He and his wife, Martha, opened Fin Restaurant in 2011 in an antique Cape building in Dennis that Jonathan renovated and updated. Fin was voted ‘Best New Restaurant’ in 2012 and ‘Best Cape Restaurant’ in 2013 by Boston Magazine.

He is survived by his wife, Martha Kane, his Boston Terrier, Quivet, and his sister, Susan Butler, and last—but not least—a yard full of decades of marine gear.

A memorial service will be held in September 2025.