Richard Reiss, Cathedral Kitchen teacher and chef
When Richard Reiss was 14 and still in school, he began his cooking career at his father's restaurant near his home in Alameda, Calif., according to his autobiographical notes.
When Richard Reiss was 14 and still in school, he began his cooking career at his father's restaurant near his home in Alameda, Calif., according to his autobiographical notes.
"His family roots, a combination of Russian, Jewish, and Greek, meant there was a big emphasis on both food and family," the notes say.
But for most of his career, he was "running GE's technology division in Maryland," he wrote.
Until 2001. At age 55, he decided to become a chef, and enrolled in Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I., from which he graduated cum laude.
"Like a lot of people after 9/11," his wife, Deborah Herzog, said, "he decided life was too short, too unpredictable."
On Thursday, Jan. 14, Mr. Reiss, 69, a chef and teacher in the culinary arts program at Cathedral Kitchen in Camden since 2009, died at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., of complications from surgery.
"He always wanted to cook, that was his dream," his wife said.
At home, "he did what I called show-off cooking when people came around. He did a mean French scampi.
"He was a wonderful chef. He loved taking care of people."
Born in Alameda, he graduated from Alameda High School and served as an air traffic controller on an aircraft carrier in waters off Vietnam.
After brief stints at restaurants in central New Jersey, Mr. Reiss taught and cooked at Elijah's Promise in New Brunswick, which among other things operates a community soup kitchen and culinary arts school.
Karen Talarico, executive director at Cathedral Kitchen, said Mr. Reiss came to her door because the work was similar to what he had been doing at Promise.
Apart from being a chef, she said, he helped run Cathedral Kitchen's culinary arts program, "a 17-week program twice a year."
Besides the program, she said, "we provide dining to serve the poor, about 300 every day, dinner every day."
Mr. Reiss, Talarico said, "loved the people that he worked with, loved the clientele," teaching them "how to cook and change their lives."
Besides his wife, Mr. Reiss is survived by daughters Emily and Morgan, and two sisters.
Services were set for 11:45 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 17, at Mount Sinai Memorial Chapels, Cranbury Road at Evergreen Boulevard, East Brunswick, N.J.
Donations may be sent to http://cathedralkitchen.org.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.msmc.us.com.
610-313-8134@WNaedele