John Kevin Byrne, 61, of Lawrenceville, an accomplished building contractor, singer and guitarist, died Monday at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington following a short illness.

Born in Ireland, Kevin was adopted and raised in NJ by the late Thomas M. and Florence P. Byrne.

After graduating high school, Mr. Byrne began a career in construction services. Kevin moved to Florida in the 1990s and held a series of jobs there before forming a company, Riverside Restoration and Reproductions, which he carried with him upon returning to New Jersey in 2006.

Throughout this tie, his interest in music and guitar led to him to playing regularly at venues around Trenton and developing a repertoire of folk music, especially Irish rebel tunes.

He used that knowledge in the early 2000s to record a CD, Between Two Shores, that combined his own songwriting with traditional Irish music and popular cover tunes.

With his wife, Lynette, he built up a home-repair business in Manville that operated under both the names Riverside Restoration and Handy Manville. He shuttered the businesses in 2017 as effects of a progressive lung disease left him unable to continue working.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons from a previous marriage, Connor and Riley Byrne, a stepdaughter, Kaitlyn Pornovets, a sister and brother-in-law Karin Byrne and Blaine Winship and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated Friday, November 9, 2018 at 10:00AM in St. Joseph Church, 34 Yorktown Road, Hillsborough, NJ.