by GaryF » Sun Oct 14, 2018 2:10 am
Dean was a wonderful friend and mentor to so many in the restaurant community- and he truly loved Louisville.
Some of his generosity is well known- he has helped raise huge amounts of money for The March of Dimes, Gilda's Club, Bourbon and Bowties, and many many other charities, including the one closest to my heart, APRON Inc.
What most don't know is that almost every day after the kitchen opened he would take two, three, maybe six bags of food to folks having a rough time, perhaps stuck in a hospital room, or the family of a regular guest that passed, or just a family down on their luck. I wen with him one day and we hit 5 different hospitals. He would then go back to the restaurant and not mention a word to anyone.
When I told him some community members were thinking about a way to help independent restaurant employees in need he immediately asked what he could do to help. I mentioned that the filing fee for a 501(c)3 was $800 and we were not sure how to raise it. He immediately got his checkbook and wrote out the check. After that he donated a set amount every month from both restaurants and encouraged others to do the same. In the seven years since APRON has given over $200K in grants to needy employees, including 25K earlier this year to help folks affected by flooded restaurants pay their rent.
He was also generous to his employees- for many years he would close Equus for a week and take the staff to the beach. There are also many chefs here in Louisville that were introduced to food festivals around the country and to the James Beard House by him. He wanted to put Louisville on the culinary map.
When he sold Equus a few months ago and took a job with Masterson's he said he thought he deserved to spend some quality time with his three sons and his wife Julie. What a shame he only had a short time to enjoy them.
Louisville will not be the same without him, but how lucky we were to have him while we did.