Serge Lebrun grew up in Turgeau, Port-au-Prince, the son of Georges Marcel Lebrun (Boulogne, France) and Claire Gaetjens (Léogâne, Haiti). The nickname “Boulon” comes from a fat-baby resemblance to a balloon — Haitian families love nicknames, and this one stuck for life.
His Haitian career arc threaded through several businesses: he started as a baker at an early age, then opened a store selling fabrics and materials for making clothing, then a second store selling jewelry and magazines called La maison du livre (later managed and ultimately bought by his brother Claude), and finally a tire and battery store (Englebert and Varta). When he emigrated to the United States around 1968, Claude managed the tire store and eventually purchased it from him.
In the US he worked for Mellon Bank in Manhattan until his retirement. He and Toye lived first in Jackson Heights, Queens, on 77th Street, then in 1971 bought a house at 34-38 92nd Street, Jackson Heights jointly with Mireille and Peter — the address shared with the next generation.
He died on March 30, 2004, and was cremated rather than buried.
His first cousin on his mother’s side was Joseph “Joe” Gaetjens, the Haitian footballer who scored Haiti’s 1–0 upset over England in the 1950 World Cup and was later killed by the Duvalier regime.
