Dame Maxine Levy, Award-Winning Writer and Editor. 

The Dallas Chapter shares news of the passing of longtime Les Dames advocate and member Maxine Levy January 1, 2024. Maxine held a graduate degree in Home Economics from St. Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut.  She was an award-winning food, hospitality, travel, fashion and health writer, editor and columnist for top-tier newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Hartford Courant, Gourmet Magazine, The Dallas Times Herald and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Maxine’s avid interest and deep research into culinary topics inspired others to pursue careers in the industry and to seek membership in Les Dames, including her daughter, Dame Rani Bolton, who is affiliated with the Atlanta Chapter. In the early days of her career, Maxine brought her young daughter, Rani, along with her when she conducted interviews in lauded kitchens. She recruited college student Rani to welcome guests and sell raffle tickets at Les Dames’ fundraisers. When Rani became involved in food service and industry sales, Maxine made the introductions that led to Rani’s invitation to membership. 

Well past the time she qualified for Emeritus status, Maxine attended and championed LDEI activities. “She was always willing to do anything to help the Chapter,” said friend and fellow Dame Margie McCallister, a sentiment Rani echoes. “Her entire life she chose to eat at Dame or Dame-supporting establishments,” said Rani. “She always looked to support people wanting to get into the field - it is part of why I do what I do every day.”  

 Dame Gail Grissom Greene, First Food Stylist in Dallas

Gail Greene, one of the earliest members of the circa-1985 Dallas Chapter, passed away peacefully on November 25, 2023.   Gail graduated from Texas Christian University (TCU) in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics and began a long culinary career with many roles. Initially a junior high school teacher, Gail worked as a home economist for Texas Power & Light Company before becoming a recipe tester for the legendary Helen Corbitt of Neiman-Marcus’ Zodiac Room. The experience she gained working for the famed chef and cookbook author evolved into a lifelong love of food styling. Gail became the first food stylist in Dallas, working on television commercials and print materials for such clients as El Fenix, TGI Fridays, Pure Cane Sugar, Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalogs, Williams Sonoma catalogs, the American Heart Association and Frito Lay. Through this career, she styled food and catered board meetings for the Southland Corporation, where she met her future husband, Southland executive Howard Greene.  Gail and Howard traveled the world together and were known for entertaining their many friends and large family. 

She served as president of the Dallas Chapter in 1997 and remained an active participant in the Dallas Chapter throughout the years. "Having Gail present at potlucks, business meetings and other Dames events brought a special connection from the trail blazers of the hospitality industry to the newer and up and coming Dames. Gail was heartwarming, kind and humble,” said former Chapter President Katie Natale. She will be much missed by her fellow Dames in Dallas. 

It is with great sadness that we share the news that our founding President Dame Dolores "Dodie" Snyder passed away Friday afternoon at the age of 89. She died peacefully at her daughter Emily's home where she had recently relocated from Dallas to Boca Raton to be closer to her daughter and her fiancee, Tom.

In 1976 Dolores established the Dolores Snyder Gourmet Cookery School, which she ran for 16 years. She was perfectly proper in all of her endeavors.

In 1978, Dolores was studying on the French Riviera at a culinary program designed by Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking co-author, Simone Beck. While there, Dolores attended a champagne reception at the Escoffier Museum in Villeneuve-Loubet (the birthplace of trailblazing chef and writer Auguste Escoffier) that honored Carol Brock, founder of the New York chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. Befriending Carol motivated Dolores to establish a Dallas chapter, which began with 10 founding members in 1984. Dolores went on to be International President of Les Dames d'Escoffier in 1989 and was very proud of both being a Dame and establishing our chapter.

In 2004 she released a cookbook, Tea Time Entertaining: A Collection of Tea Themes and Recipes which was a Best Book Award winner and a finalist for Cookbook of the Year 2004.

Dodie was a proud graduate of El Centro Community College. She was the first in her family to go to college where she graduated with a degree in Textilesrom of the University of Texas in Austin. She lived in a co-op and met Gladys Howard who became her best friend and a fellow founding member of Les Dames, Dallas chapter. In her honor, the Les Dames d'Escoffier Dallas chapter established the Dolores Simmons Snyder Scholarship in Nutritional Science at The University of Texas. This scholarship benefits an outstanding junior or senior female undergraduate who is studying nutritional science in the Department of Human Ecology.

Lorene, who much of the world knew as “Renie,” passed away on July 21, 2022 at her home in Fort Worth surrounded by the love of her family. Renie, a culinary pioneer among American women, lived an extraordinary life dedicated to family and sharing her boundless joy and enthusiasm for life, cuisine and entertainment with others, whether at home or abroad.

Her innate interest in the culinary arts surfaced early. As a little girl, Renie would stand on a kitchen chair helping her mother with meals and assisting with the preparation of dishes shared by friends and community. Renie graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport in 1954 and Randolph Macon Woman’s College in 1958 where she earned degrees in political science and economics. She became a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and received the Chapter Service Award for Outstanding Servant Leadership in her senior year. To her great joy, Renie was honored in 2008 with Randolph Macon’s Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1958, Renie married Sterling Wallace Steves, an attorney with the firm Tilley, Hyder and Law, and moved to Fort Worth. Renie soon became a devoted mother raising two daughters and a son.

Renie energetically pursued her passions. She paired her culinary excellence with a love for travel and entertainment. She became famous for hosting nearly 100 people to welcome guests from all around Europe. She orchestrated elegant dinner parties to entertain her husband’s clients, featuring menus she perfected by studying Jacques Pepin’s book and served with exceptional wines discovered during her global exploration. In 1979, Renie transformed her passion into a profession. She founded The French Apron cooking school in her home (later Cuisine Concepts) and, through it, shared her internationally refined expertise for decades. Renie taught aspiring hostesses to set a proper table, making it a work of art. She enticed luminaries like Stephan Pyles and Diana Kennedy to serve as guest chefs at her classes. With her classic good nature, Renie mused that she had “introduced Fort Worth to artichokes” often featuring them in her lessons. Renie hosted Van Cliburn Piano Competition competitors since it began. Notably, in 1977 she hosted finalist Alexander Mndoyants from Russia and, in 2013, his son finalist Nikita Mndoyants. “She treated both like family when they arrived, and never stopped. They remained close forever,” recalls Renie’s daughter, Stephanie. Her gift for combining a love of food, wine, entertaining, and people explains her dedicated leadership and mentoring skills in esteemed organizations like Les Dames d’Escoffier, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the American Institute of Wine & Food, the James Beard Foundation, and Friends of Bacchus.

Even into her 80s, the food and wine maven kept up an energetic pace even after she broke her neck. As was typical of Renie, she turned it into a blessing. She gathered family and community around her. When remarking about her incredible support, she enjoyed saying, “Fort Worth is incredible, I received 600 cards and a lot of great Bundt cake.” Few things slowed her down. She soon visited wine making legends in Napa Valley, judged a wine competition in Chile, joined friends in culinary expeditions to Cuba and New York, and returned home with copious notes about the best dishes from an array of restaurants. Between trips, she returned to the gym near her home, working out with her personal trainer and taking Uber rides to Dallas for meetings and dinners. Renie hosted and accompanied 23 family members in June 2022 for a week in the Florida Keys.

Renie has requested charitable gifts be made to education funds at the Dallas Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier; or at the Fort Worth Food & Wine Foundation; or to the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

to donate in honor of renie:

Send checks to: Les Dames d’Escoffier 3419 Westminster P.O. Box 340G Dallas, TX 75205

*Please specify “In Honor of Renie Steves”

Michele attended Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island where she earned her bachelor's degree. She was a gifted pastry chef and had won many awards including Texas Pastry Chef of the Year. Michele also competed in the International Culinary Olympics where she and her team won a silver medal. She worked for many years at Brook Hollow Golf Club as the Executive Pastry Chef. Michele also taught at Collin College and the Texas State Tech College. She was a loving mother and wife. She served on the Dames board and was inducted in 2012.

She wrote a weekly restaurant and food column for Katy Trail Weekly until shortly before her death. As an adjunct professor, she taught a class in food writing at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas for five years until this spring semester. Les Dames d’Escoffier, an organization of women dedicated to food and wine service, named a journalism scholarship for UNT students in her honor earlier this year.

A 5th generation Texan, Griffith was a Texas original, remembered by friends and colleagues alike as fierce and fearless, intelligent and loyal, and quicker-witted than anyone they’d ever met.

Griffith was a trailblazing journalist who took recipes out of newspaper “womens’ sections” and integrated them into serious discussions of cuisines and restaurant trends. Yet she was more than a food journalist. She was as comfortable talking about how to field-dress a deer as she was synthesizing complex political policy. All delivered with her signature rapier wit.

The author of 12 cookbooks and a prolific freelance writer for publications such as The New York Times and Southern Living magazine, Griffith served as the first director of communications for the ACLU of Texas and was often seen on television and featured at major events as the big Texas “personality” that she was.

*The Dallas Morning News written by Dame Erin Brooke