Farewell Dorothy Cann Hamilton. Rest in peace.
The International Culinary Center announced yesterday that its president and founder, Dorothy Cann Hamilton, died in a car accident. I’ve heard that the accident was in Nova Scotia, but cannot find details.
Dorothy was a star in New York’s food world. Her Wikipedia entry tells some of the story.
But I knew her best as someone who dreamed big and made the dreams come true.
I met her in the early days of the French Culinary Institute when we met to work out a partnership—her idea—with NYU’s newly launched food studies programs.
That worked. So did much else.
She turned ICC into a go-to place for programs as well as culinary arts. I was privileged to participate in those programs occasionally.
I was even more privileged to be part of her occasional Ladies Who Lunch group at L’Ecole.
I watched her handle ambassadors and dignitaries at Food Expo in Milan. Back in New York, I saw her receive high honors from the French government.
I have no doubt the press will have much to say about all she accomplished.
To me she will always be the girl from Queens who longed for Manhattan, got there, and made many wonderful things happen.
I cannot believe she is gone. I will miss her.
Obituaries, September 20
