Michael S. Clarke, the colorful saloonkeeper and owner of Claddagh Pub on O’Donnell Square in Canton, died of a heart attack July 28 at his vacation home in Ocean City. The Towson resident was 58.

“The Claddagh was a fixture in the neighborhood for years and Michael had a big personality,” said Jackie McCusker, owner of Nacho Mama’s and Mama’s on the Half Shell. “He loved Canton and the square like we do.”

“Mike was loyal and friendly and a guy you could trust. He meant what he said and was brutally honest,” said Billy Hughes, a boyhood friend and former Claddagh chef, who now owns the Barracudas Locust Point Tavern.

“He built the business from eight tables to a building that is now five stories and can hold 300 people,” Mr. Hughes said. “He’d see things, talk to me, and get it going. He always wanted to make it bigger and better. He just loved the business.”

Michael Shawn Clarke, son of the late Dennis “Denny” Z. Clarke, who owned the Irish Club Bar at Chase and Howard streets, and Vivian Clarke, co-owner of Claddagh, was born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown.

Mr. Clarke’s lifelong love of soccer began as a kid growing up around Our Lady of Pompei Roman Catholic Church in Highlandtown.

He played varsity soccer at Archbishop Curley High School, where he graduated in 1984, and then earned a bachelor’s degree in 1988 from Towson University in business administration.

After college, he worked for several local liquor distributorships before joining his father, who owned an Irish pub on Chase Street, in the restaurant business.

In 1994, Mr. Clarke learned that Eddie’s Lounge, a dive bar in O’Donnell Square was up for sale, so he and his father purchased it. A year later it opened as the Claddagh, and quickly became a mecca for soccer fans who came to watch World Cups and other soccer matches from across the world.

“It’s our thing. It’s organic, it’s something we grew up with, and we fight for our sport,” Mr. Clarke told The Baltimore Sun in 2022. “If you go back to the ‘90s, we’ve been a soccer pub since Day 1. Now I love the Ravens. Football is huge for us, don’t get me wrong — American football. But soccer is my passion.”

Mr. Clarke was the driving force behind Meet in the Streets, an annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration that began in 1995 and evolved from a single portable tent to an elaborate production that continues to sprawl all over O’Donnell Square.

“We went from a hundred or so the first year to several thousand last year over three days,” Mr. Clarke told The Sun in 2011.

An active member of the Canton Community Association, it wasn’t uncommon to see Mr. Clarke picking up trash and weeding the square.

Claddagh and Mr. Clarke were also sponsors of such neighborhood events as Light Night Canton, Canton Day of Giving and the annual O’Donnell Square Lamp Post Lighting.

“If Michael wanted something, he got it,” Mr. Hughes said. “He strived for bigger and better things and always got there.”

There were moments when Mr. Hughes and Mr. Clarke didn’t always see eye-to-eye on things.

“Oh, yeah, he was always right, and I was always right, and we’d butt heads,” he said, with a laugh. “But the next day, it was all hugs and kisses.”

A funeral Mass was offered Aug. 3 at Our Lady of Pompei Church.

In addition to his mother, Mr. Clarke is survived by his wife of 30 years, Kimberly Jones-Clarke, a Verizon sales associate; a son, Sean Clarke of Towson; two daughters, Julia Clarke of Towson and Casey Clarke of Bethesda; his mother, Vivian Clarke of Canton; and a sister, Lori A. Pirisino of Towson.